What Matters Most
by zanessalovex33
Summary: Troy and Gabriella were childhood friends. They were next door neighbor. But when days past, Gabriella and Troy began growing different, Gabriella maturing more. What happens when Gabi becomes popular and Troy is the shy timid one? Can Gabi change him?
1. Trailer

Okay, so I've decided to start another story. So review if you want to see more.

Everyone has a childhood friends.

**Shows picture of two kids playing with each other.**

Childhood friends thinking they'll be friends forever!

**Shows the two hugging each other at a young age.**

But what happens when one starts growing faster than the other.

**Shows Gabriella talking on the phone with her friend**

And the other feeling left behind.

**Leaving Troy outside waiting for her in the cold.**

What happens when one becomes the popular girl that pretty much rules the school.

**Shows Gabriella flaunting it with two friends by her side.**

And the other one is the shy geeky artist boy.

**Shows Troy with very long hair and has glasses.**

The two don't talk in school or public…

**Gabriella and Troy walk past each other at school.**

But at home, they talk when their families have dinner together.

**Their families having dinner together.**

When a friend is in desperate need, Gabriella has to go to the extreme to help her friend so he could help her.

**Gabriella and Troy negotiating with each other.**

What would she have to do to get his help?

**Troy says "make me popular, please."**

Gabriella decides so and helps him, what happens when she finally realize what's underneath all of this.

**A scene where Gabriella kisses Troy.**

Parodies of Love don't cost a thing kind of, High School Musical Edition. (:

_**Review is appreciated. If I get at least 5, I'll continue.**_


	2. The Deal

_**Flashback**_

_"We'll be friends forever right?" The young girl asked the boy._

_"Forever, I promise." The boy said to the girl while they were sitting under their tree. Their tree was the tree in between the house to keep it apart._

_The girl hugged her friend and sighed, "What do you think the future would be like?" She asked him._

_"I don't know, but one thing I know is that we'll go through it as best friends!" He grinned, looking at his friends. He saw something on his friend's cheek and leaned closer to look at it, "What the…" he asked, "What is that." _

_The girl turned her head and accidently kissed him on the lips, for a mere second she kissed but then pulled away "EW!!!!"_

_"EW!!!!"__ The boy wiped his mouth. "Gabi I have cooties now!"_

_Gabriella spit the spit out of her mouth and smirked, "You're gross Troy."_

_And that was the first time they kissed. But it didn't make anything awkward, just…funny. The two laughed it off and then sat there looking out at the lake view._

_"Gabi, do you think we'll make it through all these years?"_

_"Of course.__ We always said '__bff__' forever." She smiled, looking at him._

_"Good. We'll stick together through everything." Troy smiled._

_"TROY! GABRIELLA! __LUNCH TIME!!!"_

_The two laughed and stood up racing each other inside the house._

_**End of flashback.**_

"Oh my gosh did you hear?! Nate asked Cara out!"

Gabriella stood in front of the mirror, curling her hair. She rolled her eyes at what Sharpay had said and shrugged, "I give them about…a day, maybe even less. I didn't even break up with him within 24 hours!"

Taylor looked through her sidekick and shrugged, "I don't know, they've been eyeing each other for a while."

Sharpay looked over at Taylor and laughed. "Yeah, tell me about it, I see it all the time. I bet he's going to come back crawling to you anyways. I don't understand why you always take him back." She scoffed. "he's such a pig."

"True that," Taylor agreed.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Well…I don't know okay, there's something about him."

"His looks doesn't count Gabs."

She rolled her eyes, "I know Sharpay." She finished curling her hair and took out the plug and turned around to look at her friends, "Hair?"

"Perfect."

"Make-up?"

"It looks fine."

"Alright, let's go to school." Gabriella groaned.

The three headed out to Gabriella's car and drove off to school. "So today, after cheerleading practice, Chad is throwing a party for the cheerleaders, and jocks." Taylor spoke first.

"Ugh another party?" Gabriella asked when stopping at a light, "You know if you have a thing for Chad go tell him because he seems very into you."

"Uh hello! Chad and I don't mix."

Sharpay laughed, "Oh yes you guys do."

Gabriella pulled into school and looked over at Taylor, "Well tonight might be your guys' lucky night." Gabriella joked.

"GABRIELLA LOOK OUT!"

Gabriella pushed very hard on the break, causing them to go forward but safe in their seats since they were wearing a seat belt.

"HEY WATCH OUT YOU CREEP!" Sharpay yelled out of the window.

"Get out of the way!" Taylor yelled.

Gabriella looked up to see Troy, her childhood friend. She pushed her bangs out of her face and looked at him, meeting his eyes at once. She gulped a bit and blinked.

Troy looked at her and his hair fell over his face. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and it took him a moment before hearing her other two obnoxious friend. He got out of the way and continued walking.

Gabriella watched him for a moment then parked her car in her usual spot.

Troy and Gabriella promised each other that they would be friends forever, but somehow Gabriella grew faster being more mature and girly. And Troy…was still the same Troy. They talked less as Gabriella made new friends, and when Gabriella started having a boyfriend, it seem like he was totally out of the picture. Every now and then they would talk but it would be at family dinners when their families have dinner together, but that's it pretty much. Gabriella didn't think it was her fault for all of this… but one thing that everyone should know…she brought this all on herself. But she loved her life…and for him, not so much.

"Who is that boy?" Sharpay asked in a rude tone.

"I don't know, Kyle, Chris, or something. I don't know, not important." Taylor got out of his car and looked at Gabriella. "Luckily you didn't crash him."

"I know, that would've been bad." The girls headed into the school and walked down the hallways getting the usual whistles and claps. "Never get's old." Gabriella told herself in her mind. She stopped by her locker and opened it. A pair of cold hand covered her eyes.

"Hey stranger." The deep cool voice said.

"Nate." She said rather dull. When the hand was removed from her eyes, she turned around and smirked. "Where's Cara?"

"I don't know, with her friends I guess. Which then gives us time to you know…" He twirled her hair with his finger.

She leaned in to tease him then whispered in his ears. "Sorry babe, it's not me." She pulled away, closing her locker and walked down the hall alone. She saw Troy at his locker, and she bit her lip looking around.

"Troy…hi." She said gently.

Troy looked up from his backpack and saw Gabriella, he pushed his glasses up and looked at her. "Um, Hi?" This was new, Gabriella walking up to him to talk to him.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier, about almost crashing you and my friends…"

"Don't worry about it." He said, looking back into his locker, he looked over past her and smirked, "Look your friends are coming, you don't want them to catch you talking to me." He closed his locker.

"Troy" she sighed, but he walked away in time for her friends to come over.

"Hey gabs, you ready?" Sharpay asked her and then the three of them headed to homeroom.

Gabriella nodded and headed to homeroom with her best friends, they all sat apart though. Miss Darbus never made any exceptions for anyone. She sat in her usual spot, the back of the room and sighed. This was her worst class.

"Okay junior class of 2009." Miss Darbus began as the bell rung. "Announcements for today, Spring Musical, Basketball try-outs in a week, Drama club…" She went on for a while.

Gabriella took out her phone and began texting in class.

_This is __sooo__ boring._

_Love, Gab._

She clicked sent to Taylor and Sharpay and sighed.

Miss Darbus finished announcements and looked at the class, "I have midterm reports for the class. Anyone failing will lose a credit if they don't raise it by 4 weeks." She snapped. She handed everyone their progress reports and Gabriella took hers.

Chemistry B-U.S. History C+English AP C+PE A-Spanish IV C+Art B+Calculus F

Gabriella gasped at her report. "WHAT!" She yelled aloud on accident so everyone heard.

Troy turned his head and saw Gabriella then looked down at his paper and smiled. He had all As, except for a B+ in P.E.

The bell rung and Gabriella sat in her seat staring at the paper. She needed to raise her grade or else she'll have to be bench when cheering at a game.

Sharpay and Taylor walked over to her. "Hey, what's up? Why aren't you getting up, you're going to be late for Chemistry."

Gabriella looked at her friends, "I'm failing Calculus…"

"WHAT!"

Gabriella sighed, "I gotta go talk to Miss Callas." She got up and waved to her friends and headed for the Calculus class.

"Miss Callas." She said when she saw her teacher.

"Gabriella, what's up?"

"I'm failing this class?" She asked her.

"Yes you are. You get low grades on your test, do you study?"

"Um…"

"Maybe cheerleading is taking too much, you should think twice about what you're doing."

"Ugh but I can't be failing!"

"You should've thought of that before you tried cheerleading."

Gabriella sighed and left the classroom. The rest of the day she was pissed and mad. Finally it was cheerleading practice. Practice was hard. Very. She pushed everyone very hard because she was mad. Everyone pretty much collapsed by the end of practice. "Tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM!" She yelled out and everyone groaned. She headed home and parked her car in the drive way. She looked over and saw Troy under the tree. She blinked and walked over to him, sitting next to him but not saying a word.

"How was cheerleading practice?" He said bitterly.

Gabriella bit her lip and shrugged, "It was okay, the usual."

Troy looked over at her then straight ahead, "It's Thursday night, family dinner night."

She smiled, "Yeah, should be fun." She laughed gently.

He didn't laugh though; he kept on looking ahead, with his hair all over his face.

Gabriella looked over at him and then at the tree. "It's been so many years we've been under this tree."

Troy spoke quickly, "Yeah I know, you've been busy."

She shrugged, "I guess…and I'm sorry about that."

"No need to be." He said.

"Look Troy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry how we promised each other that we'll be there till the end, but we've grown apart, in two different lives. I didn't think we'd choose to go separate ways."

"We? You mean you chose a different life." He shrugged. "But whatever, it's cool."

Gabriella sighed, no matter how hard she tried; she couldn't get her best friend back. There was no possible way so she decided to change the subject. "So...I'm failing Calculus." She sighed, "Sucks big time."

"Really? I'm passing Calculus."

Gabriella turned her head, "Really?" She bit her lip.

He nodded.

Then an idea popped in Gabriella's head. "Troy, do you think you can tutor me…help me, like after school and after I have cheer practice?"

"I don't think your friends will approve." He told her.

"They don't have to know- I mean I don't care, I need to past. I'm asking as a friend to a best friend." She spoke.

He looked at her when she said that and sighed. "I don't know Gabi…"

Troy was the only one to call her Gabi.

"Please Troy… I really need this." She pleaded with her puppy eyes.

"I…." he sighed. "I don't know…" It was completely random.

"I'll do anything!"

He raised his eyebrow then something popped into his head. "Anything?"

"Well, yes. Anything." She knew he didn't have a sick mind.

"Well there is one thing."

"You name it."

"Make me popular, make people notice me…make me like you in a guy way." He told her.

"What?!" She asked him, slightly confused. She never knew Troy wanted to be popular or cool.

He shrugged, "It's that or nothing."

She sighed, not knowing what to do with him but she was desperate.

"Deal."

**SO do you guys like it so far? Review if so!**


	3. The Transformation

"Alright, so when do we start?" Troy asked.

"Well, as soon as possible, I'm hoping?" She asked, wanting to pass her calculus test.

"On my part, I want to transform, and on yours whenever you're ready? How about after dinner?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Ooh…can't." he said to her.

"Why not?" he asked. He pushed up his glasses and moved his hair out of his face.

"I have…somewhere to go." She smiled.

"Where?" he asked, "we're _best friends_ remember?" he asked her.

"I'm going to a party." She sighed, shrugging.

"Oh really?" he asked her.

"Yeah." She spoke gently.

Gabriella pushed the curls back and thought for a moment. She looked at Troy who was looking away for a moment. "We can get started on calculus now," she shrugged. "If you want."

"I was thinking, you can bring me to the party too…you know to start my confidence." He said, grinning.

Gabriella was taken aback by this. She wasn't sure if she wanted to take him. It would've been weird. It would've caused damage to her life, but she did promise him.

"Please Gabriella, I think this will really help. Please Gabi." He said, with pleading eyes.

She sighed, "Okay, I guess." She shrugged. "First, we start on calculus. Then we'll figure out things later."

"Alright." He grinned, "My place or your space?"

"Mine." She said, "See you in a few." She got up and headed back to the house.

"I'm climbing the balcony!" He shouted out and headed back in. this was the first time in a while that these two had actually had some one on one time. Usually they never or rarely talked but that's about it.

She rolled her eyes and laughed, "okay!" she shouted and headed inside, passing her mom. "Hi mom, bye mom!" She said aloud and ran upstairs. She got her calculus book and waited for troy. She heard the next message noise from her phone and picked it up.

She clicked on_ Read._

_Hey girl you want me to come pick you up?_

_Love, Tay._

She pressed the reply button.

_No, its okay I'll drive there myself. See you then, love ya._

_Xoxo__ Gabs._

She pressed the_ Send_ button and closed her phone. Then there was a knock on the back door and she opened it. Troy walked in and helped her with her homework. "Man I haven't been here in forever." He told her.

She laughed, "Yeah I know, it's been a while." She shrugged while writing her problems on the paper.

They went downstairs to eat dinner when they were called down but they skipped family fun time with two families. They went back to studying.

When the clock hit 8, she closed her calculus book. She looked at Troy and smiled, "Party time." She said, getting ready.

"Ok." He said, unsure what she wanted him to do with that.

"Are you gonna go get ready?"

"I am ready."

She looked at what he was wearing and shook her head. _No way_ is he going to show up with her wearing that.

"What? Isn't this good enough?"

"Yeah if you're going to the circus." She laughed.

"Oh I get it, you want your date to show up dressing classy." He rolled his eyes.

"You're not my date" she said quickly. "Just as friends." She told him ahead of time.

"Right." He said.

She sighed, "I might have something in my jacket I was going to give Nate but didn't." She told him.

"Nate? Oh right your boyfriend." He smirked.

"Ex." She told him.

She found a blue jacket for him to wear and threw it at him. "This is decent." She smiled. She finished getting dolled up and looked at him, "Ready?"

"As ready as I can be." He shrugged.

Gabriella took him to her car and sighed. "Get in." She said and then headed off to the party with him. "You might not like these parties but this is how I am now." She told him, while driving.

"I wonder what happened to the good Gabriella." Troy looked over at her. The Gabriella he use to know.

"That was Gabriella back then, I'm different now."

"I can tell." He said after she spoke.

She shook her head and pulled into Chad's house. Here goes. She didn't know how people were going to react.

They walked to the door together and she was greeted by her friends.

"Gab-." She stopped when she saw the guy next to her. "What is he doing-" She was cut off by Gabriella.

"He's a friend." She said quickly.

Taylor walked out and greeted Gabriella. "hey Gabriella," She turned her head towards the boy. "Isn't that the boy you almost ran over today?"

"But you didn't." Troy informed Taylor.

Taylor shook her head and pulled Gabriella aside. "What are you with him? That's so uncool!" Taylor snapped.

"Calm down, Tay." She rolled her eyes, "I was told to take him along okay, and he's helping me pass calculus. He wanted the taste of the good life." She shrugged, "he'll probably hate it and want to go home."

Sharpay walked over to the two who were talking, "Be careful Gabriella, your rep can be ruin in seconds, especially when Cara is out to get you."

"Relax. I got this under control." She looked at Troy and walked over to him heading into the house with him. "If you want to go, just tell me." She told him.

Insides, everyone was half drunk already and making out. Gabriella pushed through gently and looked back at Troy. "Want something to drink?"

"Uh, sure." He said, even though he wasn't a drinker. He wanted to fit in and be cool.

Gabriella got him a drink and handed it to him. She was pulled away by some boy. She smiled and started dancing with some guy that pulled her in.

Troy watched her lifestyle and saw a lot of people wondering what he was doing here. He stood in the corner gently and saw Nate walk pass him with Cara.

"What is he doing here?" Cara asked.

"I don't know, he does not belong here." Nate smirked. He knew about the friendship Gabriella and him use to have. Nate walked over to him and when walking past him, he hit his drink down making it spill on the floor. He walked past him with his arms around Cara and laughed.

Troy looked down at his drink when it was knocked down. He was very mad and bent down to pick it up getting pushed a few time.

All he could hear was:

"What is he doing here?""Who is he?"

"What a nerd."

"What a loser."

And all those bad stuff.

Gabriella was having fun dancing when she looked over at Troy, seeing him picking up his drink from the floor and the people laughing. She shook her head and stopped dancing walking over to him grabbing his arm. She lifted him up and looked at him.

"Troy what are you doing?"

"Picking up my drink that someone knocked out of my hand." He wiped his hand on his jeans.

"Come on, let's go home."

"It's fine, I'll walk, stay with your friends." He shook his head and walked. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"No!" She said quickly. She really needed his help. "It'll be better next time, I promise."

"There is no next time." he walked out.

She shook her head and walked out. "Trust me on this one best friend, I'll help you." Then she was pulled by some girls from the cheer squad.

"What are you doing? This will ruin your reputation."

Gabriella bit her lower lip and looked at Troy who shook his head and walked away.

She looked down to the floor and felt like a total ass. She walked back into the party and looked around for a moment. She really felt bad and went to her car to find Troy. She finally found him walking alone. She pulled up and started driving slowly. "Troy get in the car."

"Why aren't you going back to your party?" He asked her. He kicked a can as he walked. Not wanting to look at her.

"I'm sorry for being an ass Troy, I really am." She told him, "Can you please just get in the car so we can talk about this?"

"I don't know."

"Please Troy…"

He sighed, "Fine." He got into the car and buckled up for safety. He looked out the window, not saying anything for a moment.

"Well, we can start tomorrow. I promise this will always get better."

"You always promise everything Gabi! But it never happens!" He turned to finally look at her.

"What are you talking about Troy?" She asked him.

"Think back Gabriella, think back to those days we had that talk under the tree." She told back to the time. She remembered how they promised to stick together till the end. She looked ahead, not saying anything.

"See, that's right."

"I'm sorry…" She mumbled.

He sighed, "It's whatever. Well we start tomorrow on what?" he asked her.

"We'll do calculus later, after cheerleading practice…I'll come pick you up and we're going to have an extreme make over."

"Do whatever you need." He told her, smiling.

She smiled, and drove home. She looked at him and then parked into his driveway. "Tomorrow around 2 I'll drop by to pick you up, sounds good?" He asked her.

He nodded, "yeah. You do know this might make your reputation hell you know." He said to her.

"I know, but it won't be the most dramatic thing." She smiled.

Gabriella looked at him and then waited for him to get out of the car. He waved and she got out of the driveway and then went over a driveway and parked. She got into her car and slept for the rest of the night.

The next day, she went to cheer practice. Everyone arrived early, even her. She had though everyone would have a hangover. She guessed wrong. "Okay, the dance routine goes like this." She did a lot of dance moves, including a lot of tumbling and such. She finally finished and everyone got along to it and danced like she did just not as good.

Cara decided to speak up. "Not all of us can do that."

Gabriella turned and looked, "Well Cara, I think it's just you." She smirked, "If you can't handle it then don't cheer tomorrow." She smirked.

Cara rolled her eyes, "I have to cheer for _my_ boyfriend."

"Yeah, you can do that from the stands." Gabriella turned back. "5, 6, 7, 8." They went back to the dance. After practice. Gabriella told everyone that they'll meet tomorrow at 12 again. She waved to people and headed out to her car with Sharpay and Taylor.

"So what happened with you and Troy last night?"

"We…hooked up!" She yelled, grinning.

"NO WAY!!" Gabriella looked at them and smiled. "I knew it!!!" She laughed. "I knew he had a thing for you. You guys are cute."

Sharpay smiled. "I made out with someone last night." She smiled.

"I'm guessing Zeke."

Gabriella laughed at Taylor's guess. "I think so too."

"What are you guys doing now?"

"I'm going out with a friend." Gabriella unlocked her car and threw her cheerbag in it.

"That Troy kid again?"

Gabriella nodded.

"Why? Gabriella what did we say."

She sighed, "Don't worry it's only going to be for a few hours."

"Let us go too then."

"No!" Gabriella answered quickly.

"Why not?"

"I gotta go." She got into her car and back out and went to pick Troy up. She parked in his driveway and honked.

Troy exited the house wearing pretty much what he was wearing last night. He got into the car and smiled. "Hey how was practice?" He asked her, "Oh and we can work on calculus after whatever we're doing." He nodded. "I don't have anything to do. Parents are going on a cruise." He rolled his eyes. "My dad is coaching the basketball game first though."

She smiled and drove off to the mall in downtown. "Oh that's cool." She shrugged, "Afterwards sounds good." She told him and thought to herself for a moment, "I can do anything to you right?" She asked him.

"Yup, as long as I look good in the end." He smiled.

"Oh trust me, by the end of this. Girls will be worshiping you." She laughed. She looked at him and pulled into the mall.

"Get ready for a total Gabi's famous makeovers" She grinned and headed with him into the mall.

He laughed and walked in with her.

Gabriella had gotten a lot of whistles again from people. She rolled her eyes and headed into one of her favorite places to buy clothes for boys. She threw him a lot of clothes to try on. He tried it all on and then she picked out the ones she liked. "Get those." She smiled and got her discount to let him buy the clothes. After an hour of clothes shopping, she headed him to the Optical area. They were having a lot of fun with each other. Laughing and such. She had gotten him an eye exam to get contacts. "Those glasses will be gone!"

He laughed, "Finally. They were getting very old." He smirked and grabbed his bags and headed out of the store.

"My favorite part! The face make over!" She grinned, pulling her into her usually salon.

"Let's not cut off all my hair please!" He told her.

She smirked, "Aw, why not!" She sighed, "Fine, I'll see what I can come up with." She told him and then she told them to cut it the way. It was the surfer boy type of hair. She smiled and finally she could see his piercing blue eyes. After a long day of all of these, she drove them back to his house so he could change into his clothes and such. When he changed, he looked at himself for a moment.

"Wow, this is new." He said, smiling. He looked at himself in the mirror again then heard Gabriella telling him to hurry the heck up. He laughed and applied some cologne. She had picked it out. He looked at himself one more time and moved his hair to the side with one swift motion. "_Maybe Gabriella will realize me as more __then__ a friend." _He told himself. "_But I don't think that will happen. We're friends…use to be best friends. __Nothing more."_He breathed one last time then walked out, waiting to see Gabriella's reaction.

Gabriella looked up, seeing a total transformation. Her jaw dropped a little. She stared at the new Troy. The cute…no, hot Troy. "Oh my…"

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	4. Suppose To Be

"What?" He asked her, "Do you like it?" he asked, turning around for her into a 360.

She was speechless for a moment then regained herself. "You look…good." She smiled, looking at him. He definitely didn't look like the guy he use to. He looked like someone new. Someone she made someone who is wonderful.

He smiled, "Well I'm glad you like the new me" he told her. "I wonder how everyone is going to react tomorrow." He grinned.

She smiled gently. _Yeah me too_. She sighed to herself knowing everyone would freak. Girls would love him so much and guys would began wanting to be his friend. "Well do you want me to take you to school tomorrow?"

He grinned, "Well, I do need a pretty lady to be my escort." He smiled at her.

"Alright, so I'll pick you up at 7:20 AM tomorrow." She said, standing up. She waved and turned to leave but before she actually left she turned to look at him. "You really do look good Troy." She smiled and then left the room. What was she feeling?

Troy watched her leave then looked at himself in the mirror. "I really hope she notices me. I've been trying for the last 12 years of my life." He told himself then got changed into something else. His old clothes were all gone now, well most at least. His new clothes took up most of his closet. He walked downstairs to see how his family would react.

"Hi mom, dad." He said, smiling. His parents turned and saw the new Troy Bolton.

"Oh my dear." His mom said, "What happened to you?" She asked, looking at him up and down. His dad on the other hand was smiling, "Wow! You look cool!" He grinned

Troy laughed, "Gabriella made me over to boost my confident."

His mom smiled, "Gabriella and you are hanging out again?" She asked him.

"Well…yeah. I guess" He shrugged and took a seat for dinner.

"So Troy you need a drive to school tomorrow?" His dad asked him.

"No Gabriella is taking me to school on my officially new day as a cool guy." He said while eating his dinner.

"Gabriella eh?" His dad said, "Good choice."

Troy rolled his eyes, "dad! She's my best friend!" He turned his eyes away from his parents so they wouldn't see what he felt.

After dinner, Troy went up to his room and went to sleep excited for tomorrow. He knew it was going to be a big day for him.

The next day, Troy got up super early to get ready. He got out of the shower and did his hair the way it was yesterday. He grabbed a pair of jeans and polo and got dressed. He made sure to put some cologne and deodorant on. He fixed his hair to make it nice again then went downstairs for breakfast. His mom was the only one home at the moment.

"Wow you really did clean up, Gabriella did do a splendid job on you." His mom said while putting breakfast on his plate.

He laughed, "Thanks mom, I really like the new look. You can actually see my eyes." He grinned eating his pancakes.

"Why did you really do this?" She asked him.

"To boost my confident."

"There has to be another reason." She said, sitting across from Troy. "It's about a girl huh?"

"No mom, of course not." He sighed.

"Is it Gabriella?" She asked him.

"Mom!"

"I'm just asking." She smiled and went back to the dishes.

Troy sighed and heard a honk, "Bye mom" He left and got into Gabriella's new car. "Hey." He said seeing she looked beautiful as usual.

"Wow, looking good Troy!" She smiled and then drove off to school. "So you excited to see how people will react?"

"Kind of." He shrugged.

"Ladies will be all over you." She smiled, and then drove to her usual parking lot.

He laughed, "Uh huh sure." He said.

They got out of the car and Troy offered her his arm. She gladly took his arm and walked with him into school. And of course people turned heads. She heard a lot of things, like:

"Is that her new boyfriend?" "Who's the new boy?" "He's hot!" "She's sexy" "I want a piece of that."

Gabriella looked up at Troy and saw him grinning. She smiled gently and walked with him to her locker. "So far everyone likes the new you." She told him.

"Yeah it's kind of cool to have the attention." Troy said, leaning against her locker.

Gabriella looked up at him and smiled then turned back to her locker to open it. Then she turned her head and saw her friends. She smiled, "Hey guys, you remember Troy from the night I took him to the party right?"

Taylor and Sharpay's jaw both dropped at how dead drop gorgeous he was. "Wow." Sharpay manage to say.

Taylor smiled at him and thought he was hot but she wasn't interested.

"Hi you must be Taylor and Sharpay."

Sharpay smiled, "Pleasure to meet you."

Taylor nodded as in an agreement to Sharpay.

Taylor took Gabriella aside, "What did you do to him? He's amazingly gorgeous!" Taylor said. She looked at Troy who was talking with Sharpay.

Gabriella laughed, "Just doing something nice, that's all." She looked at the new Troy.

Troy looked over at Gabriella and smiled.

Troy looked back at Sharpay and smiled, "Yeah that was me, the guy you threw trash at because you thought I was the janitor."

Sharpay laughed nervously, "Oh sorry, I truly am." She placed her hand on his arm flirtatiously.

Troy nervously smiled and shrugged, "It's okay." He said to her.

"So I was thinking if you're not doing anything we can hang out sometimes?" Sharpay asked him.

Gabriella over heard this and a small pain on jealousy went through her. She raised her eyebrow wondering what Troy was going to say to her.

Troy smiled, "yeah sometimes is cool." he shrugged.

"How about tonight?" Sharpay asked him.

"Can't, I have a study date with Gabi."

He looked over at Gabriella and grinned."Gabi?" She asked, no one has ever called her Gabi before.

Gabriella smiled at that name then went back to talking to Taylor.

"Yeah that's what I call her." He nodded.

The school bell rung and he looked at Sharpay, "Well, see you later." He told her.

Troy walked over to Gabriella and walked with her to homeroom.

Taylor looked at Sharpay, "What are you thinking?"Sharpay smiled, "He's very cute." She then walked off.

Taylor rolled her eyes and saw Chad. She walked with him to homeroom as well.

When Gabriella and Troy were walking she looked at him, "So you and Sharpay huh." She smiled.

It took long for him to realize what she was talking about. "Oh! No! She's not my type." He laughed gently.

She smiled. "Really now?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I see her as a friend." He shrugged.

They both entered homeroom and Troy took a seat in the front. A lot of girls were looking at him and giggling.

Troy smiled at his confidence and turned to wave at the girls.

Gabriella glared at the girls then looked forward when Miss Darbus began taking attendance.

Miss Darbus looked around, "Troy Bolton? Is he here?" She asked.

"I'm right here Miss Darbus" Troy raised his hand.

"Troy! Wow, you look different I can see your eyes." She checked him off then went through the rest of the list. "So announcements for today." She began. "Spring Musical anyone?" she asked. She waited for someone to speak up. Sharpay raised her hand along with her brother but that was about it. "Everyone knows the Spring Fling dance is coming up, so guys ask your girls." Then she went on and on.

Gabriella took out her cell phone and went to Troy's name and began texting him.

_This is very boring.__xoxo__, Gabi._

She clicked sent.

Troy's phone vibrated and he took it out reading his text.

He smiled and then click reply.

_So now you want to text me huh :). Yeah __its__ so boring.__Troy._

He clicked sent and waited for homeroom to be over.

Gabriella received two text messages.

She read the first one from Taylor.

_Did you hear Nate and Cara broke up?_

Gabriella pressed Reply and wrote

_I can care less._

She clicked send and then within ten seconds she received one again.

_Well I heard he's going to ask you to the Spring Fling dance._

Gabriella rolled her eyes then ignored replying then clicked on the one Troy wrote her.

She laughed and pressed reply.

_Well you know, it's about time I text my best friend._

Troy received a text message and smiled at what she had said.

"Mr. Bolton, cell phone in class I See?" Miss Darbus took the bucket and walked over to Troy. "I'll be seeing you in detention." She then smirked, "Anyone else?"

Gabriella bit her lower lip and realize that she made him get detention and she would want to spend time with him anyways so she "accidentally" made her phone ring.

"Miss Montez!" She yelled, "Detention for you too!"

Sharpay and Taylor looked at her weirdly and Gabriella shrugged.

Troy looked back at her and smiled, he knew what she was up to.

Finally the bell rung and Gabriella got up walking over to Troy but someone beat her there to the punch.

Cara, her arch enemy. Gabriella stopped and watched the two. She couldn't read his expression. All she saw was Troy nodding his head. Then Troy walked out of the room with Cara.

"That bitch." Gabriella said then walked over to her friends and smirked, "I can't believe Cara, that little bitch is the biggest slut ever."

She walked out of the room with them.

"What did she do?"

"She thinks she can get any guy she wants!"

"Like Troy?" Sharpay asked.Gabriella turned her head at that name.

Taylor raised her eyebrow then looked at Gabriella then at Sharpay and smiled, "You like Troy Bolton don't you?"

"No! Of course not! He's my best friend, that's all." She said directly.

"Oh wait," Sharpay looked at Gabriella, "You like your best friend don't you?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "No I don't. I like Nate, remember?"

"Oh sure sure, well here comes Nate to ask you out." Taylor said and the two girls walked away.

"Ella, hey" He said.

"Hi Nate." She said, looking over at where Cara and Troy were standing. She sighed to herself, wondering what was going on with what he was thinking.

**Troy **walked out with Cara and smiled, "No I'm not a new kid, I've been in your class for a while now."

"Really now?" She asked, raising her eyebrow.

He nodded, "I was the kid who nobody recognized...the kid with the hair in his face all the time." He wondered if it would ring a bell to her.

"Oh...right." She smiled, "Well I recognize you now and you're hot!"

"Thanks." He laughed, "Gabriella gave me a new look."

He saw her face drop at the sound of that name."Oh Gabriella." She said bitterly.

He nodded, "Yeah." When they mentioned her name, he turned to look if he can see Gabriella and saw her with Nate. He felt tiny pain in his heart when he saw the two. He did all of this for Gabriella but she wasn't noticing him. He wasn't sure if she even looked at him that way. Maybe she only sees me as a best friend. He told himself and sighed.

Gabriella looked over at them then her eyes met Troy's eyes. She smiled to him and then looked back at Nate to break the gaze. "What's up?" She asked him.

"Well I and Cara broke up, that's what's up." He told her. He leaned against her locker, smiling.

"That sucks." She said, not looking at him. Her mind was somewhere else, not on Nate that's for sure. Gabriella knew Cara was going to do whatever it takes to get what she wants and if she found out Gabriella wanted Troy; she'll do it ten times harder to get him.

"Anyways, I was wondering if you want to go to the Fling with me." He asked her, smiling.

Before she could answer the bell rung, saved by the bell! Gabriella sighed, "Sorry I have to go to Chemistry, bye Nate." She walked off before he could say anything else.

Chad and Taylor walked over to the walking Gabriella. Chad looked at Troy then back at her and smiled. "Gabs, who's the new kid around?"

"Old kid, he's Troy Bolton…your coach's son." She told him, walking through the doors with her friends.

Troy walked in with Cara and looked at Gabriella smiling. He mouthed thank you to her and sat in the back with Cara.

Gabriella sighed and went to sit with Ryan, Sharpay's brother. Gabriella felt her phone vibrating, she took it out and read the text message.

_Thank you so much for this make over, even Cara is talking to me!_

_Troy._

Gabriella bit down on her lip and pressed reply.

_It was my pleasure._

_Xoxo Gabi_

She clicked sent and tried paying attention in class. She looked back at Troy and Cara then looked back forward.

Troy looked at Gabriella then looked at Cara and smiled. "So Cara, did you do your chemistry homework?" He asked her.

She shrugged, "I don't know…someone probably did it for me." She said.

He raised his eyebrow. "Oh…really?" He asked her.

"Mhm." She said, and then fixed her make up in the mirror.

After class, Gabriella and Troy headed to lunch together…with Cara of course. They all sat down and Gabriella sat next to Taylor and Sharpay. Across the table was Troy and Cara. Gabriella felt really awkward and then some random guy walked up to her.

"Hi Josh." She said, trying to be friendly but she was annoyed.

"Hey cutie, are you going to the Spring Fling with anyone?" He asked her, which by this caught Troy's attention.

"I am not." She said bitterly.

"Well would you like to go with me?" He asked.

"No thanks." Gabriella answered simply.

Josh mumbled something then walked away; she looked over at Troy who was looking at her but quickly turned away.

Lunch was different, usually Gabriella would be talking away but she was being really quiet and it was making people wonder.

After all those classes, school was over. But Gabriella still had detention with Troy. She had to miss cheerleading practice for this. The team wasn't going to be happy but she asked Taylor and Sharpay to take over for today. Gabriella walked into the auditorium and saw she wasn't the first one here.

"Hi, Troy." Gabriella said, smiling.

"Oh hey Gabi!" He said cheerfully.

Gabriella liked how he was always happy most of the time and with this new look he was usually happy all the time. "Where Miss Darbus?"

"I don't know, she went somewhere." He shrugged, and then he went over to grab the paint. "We're painting for punishment." He grinned.

Gabriella laughed and got the paint brush then began painting with him. "How was your first day?" She asked.

"Very good, I and Cara are talking and she's really cool." He smiled.

"Oh…really?" She asked.

"Yup. What about you how were your day and Nate?" He asked.

"Well it was okay, Nate asked me to the fling but I said-"She was cut off.

"Oh really? I was planning to ask Cara to the spring fling." He said before she could finish.

Gabriella's heart fluttered when he said that, she couldn't believe he was going to ask her on the first day they met. She forced herself to smile, "Really? That's cool." She said.

"Yeah I know, we should double date; you and Nate and Cara and I." He smiled, "Sounds cool?"

She sighed, "Yeah…"

In Troy's mind, he couldn't believe she would go with Nate. He really wanted to ask her out to the Fling, but he thought Nate already did so he had to say he was going to ask Cara, but he didn't want to. She was his only hope though.

They painted for a while then Gabriella got bored. She had an idea then got some paint on her paintbrush then flicked it at Troy making it go over him and his new clothes. She giggled, "oops." She made an innocent face.

"Did you do what I think you just did?" He asked, grinning. He dipped his paint brush in the paint.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Gabriella said in an innocent tone.

"Let me refresh your mind." He grinned and flicked the paintbrush at her. It went over her and he laughed. Then somehow it turned into a paint fight.

"MONTEZ! BOLTON!" Miss Darbus said. The two stopped the fighting then turned to look. "You have another person in detention and cut it out with the painting or I'll make you stay longer!"

They looked up to see who was joining them. Nate and Cara, Awkward. They found out that these two had detention and they wanted to go get detention to spend time with them but they had no idea that they both had it. So now the four were in the same room.

Gabriella's face dropped when she saw the two, she looked over at Troy's face which looked emotionless.

Troy looked at Cara and smiled. "Hey." But he wasn't too fonded of Nate.

Nate walked over to Gabriella and smiled, "So what's your answer?"

Troy looked over at Nate when he said that, then looked at Gabriella. He smirked and then looked at Cara, "hey do you want to go to the Spring Fling with me?"

Gabriella looked over at Troy and shook her head then she looked back at Nate and smiled, "Sure." She said.

Cara smiled when he asked. "Of course!" She looked over at Gabriella and smirked. She rolled her eyes at Nate then looked at Troy, "She's getting sloppy seconds."

Troy sighed, wishing in the world he was Nate right now. He would've really liked to be going to the Spring Fling with Gabriella. Someone who he's been secretly been in love with. But for now they're just best friends. That's the way it was suppose to be.

Gabriella looked at Troy wishing in the world she was Cara. She would love to go with Troy to the Spring Fling, but she's going with Nate because Troy had no feelings for her. Well that's what she thinks. She couldn't believe what she has done. She turned Troy into someone that all girls would love. And she would be suck being his best friend…the way it was suppose to be.


	5. Rejection

"So how'd you guys land in detention?" Troy asked the two. He moved away from Cara and went back to the painting.

Gabriella looked at Cara then at Nate then at Troy and went back to painting silently_. So much for spending time with Troy._ Gabriella thought in her head. She sighed to herself and felt a pair of hands go around her waist. She turned her head slightly and saw it was Nate.

Troy saw this and he clenched his fist then let go and tried to focus his attention on Cara.

"Stop Nate, just because I'm going to the dance with you doesn't mean I'm your girlfriend." She told him, removing his arms from her waist.

Cara paid no attention to the others and turned her attention towards Troy, "I heard you had detention and I wanted to join you." She bit her lip, sitting down by Troy. "So Troy tomorrow you want to go to this party with me?" She asked him excitedly.

Troy looked over at Gabriella then looked back at Cara and smiled; "Sure!" he said brightly, he knew Gabriella was going to be at that party. That was pretty much why he was going.

"Great, pick me up at 7?" She asked him.

"Sure." He shrugged.

Gabriella heard this and jealousy came over her again, she couldn't show it though because then it would be bad. She looked at Nate and sighed gently.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Nothing," She gave a fake smile which no one could really tell it was fake smile besides Troy.

Nate looked over at Troy and smiled, "Hey man, sorry about the incident at Chad's party."

Troy shrugged, "It's cool, I guess."

Detention went by very long for Gabriella but she managed to get through it. She waved to Nate and then went to her car.

Troy smirked and walked over to her car, "hey you were pretty quiet in detention."

She shrugged.

"What's wrong Gabi?" He asked her, "Don't say it is nothing because I can tell you're lying."

"I'm fine Troy, really. I gotta go home." She said getting into her car but before she could slam the door he stopped the door from closing.

"You drove me here, remember?" He asked her, smiling.

"Oh…right." She smiled, "get in." She waited for him to get in then drove him home.

"Thanks for the ride home Gabi, you want to come in so we can study?" He asked her.

She smiled, "I'll come over in a bit, and I gotta go get my text book and such." She told him then drove to her house. When she got home, she fell back on her bed and grabbed her cell phone and called Taylor.

"Hey Taylor."

"Hey gab, what's up?"

"Nothing…just got back from detention."

"How was it with Troy?"

"We had guest…it wasn't just us. Nate and Cara also were in detention with us"

"No way; was it awkward?"

"Kind of, I was hoping it was just me and him.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I think I like Troy."

"What? Why don't you tell him?"

"Because I think he only sees me as a best friend and besides he's going to the dance with Cara; he asked her."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, and I'm going to the dance with Nate. I have no clue why I agreed to go the dance with Nate."

"I told you that he was going to ask you."

She sighed, "Yeah I made this new Troy and now all girls are going to be out to get him."

"Well, don't worry…Gabriella there are lots of guys out there waiting in line for you."

_But it's not Troy._ She told herself in her head. "I guess, well I have to go to Troy's to study, bye Taylor."

Gabriella gathered her stuff and headed over to Troy's. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

"Gabriella, hi!" Troy's mom said.

"Hi Mrs. Bolton." She smiled gently, and came in when she invited her in.

"Troy is in his room, you can head up."

Gabriella nodded and then headed up to his room. She knocked on his door and waited for him to answer his door.

Troy answered the door and saw Gabriella and smiled, "hey." He said to her "Come on in. Sorry that it's a little messy."

She laughed, "Its okay." She sat on his bed and opened her textbook. "My big test is tomorrow, so I really need to study." She told him.

He told her, "Don't worry, you'll do fine."

They went through a lot of studying and finally Gabriella was getting this. Troy was really helping her, like she helped him. Finally they were taking a break.

"Thanks Troy, for helping me study." She smiled.

"Well thank you for turning me into someone people notice, and thanks to you I landed a date with Cara!" He grinned.

Gabriella's heart sank, "Look I don't think you should go with Cara…"

"Why?" He asked.

"There's something about her that I don't like." She said.

"What? Because she dated Nate you think she's a bad person because she dated your boyfriend?" He asked her, getting a bit offended.

"No…No! It's not like that Troy, I just don't trust her and I don't want her to break your heart."

"She's not going to break my heart Gabi," He told her, "I'll be fine you don't need to worry about me."

"I'm just saying…"

"Well I'm just saying too. Besides, I wouldn't be talking. I don't trust Nate, hasn't he cheated on you before?" He asked her.

"I'm not dating Nate; I'm just going to the dance with him." She pointed out.

He shrugged, "Okay then, I'm just watching out for you."

"Well thanks for your concern." She spoke.

There was an awkward silence between the two but then finally Troy broke the silence. "So why did you say yes to Nate anyways?" he asked her.

"Why did you ask Cara?" She asked, not answering his question.

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

He laughed slightly, "still the stubborn Gabriella."

She rolled her eyes then looked at her watch, "I have to go." She said, "But do you need a ride tomorrow to school?"

"No I'm driving, I'm picking up Cara. But we'll hang out tomorrow…yes? I can meet you by your locker in the morning." He asked her.

She smiled, "Yeah, see you tomorrow Troy." She left his room and went back home. Once she was home, she lay in bed and looked at her cell phone. Tomorrow was going to be some day, she was looking forward for tomorrow.

The next day, Gabriella got up and got ready for school. Like the usual she got up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready then left for school around 7. When she got to school, she walked out and was greeted by her two best friends and then they walked into the school. She was looking forward to meeting Troy by her locker. When she got to her hallway she didn't see him there, instead she saw him down the hallway surrounded by girls. Her friends seem to notice this and looked at Troy as well, glaring slightly.

"So much for him meeting me at my locker." She sighed, then grabbed her calculus book and walked down the hallway to talk to Troy.

"Troy, can I talk to you?" She asked him, forcing herself to smile.

Troy was a happy man right now, he was surrounded by half of the cheer squad and some beautiful girls, and none were Cara though. He looked at Gabriella and sighed, "I'm kind of busy right now."

She was taken aback by what he said. "Well um, okay." She said, walking off. Rejection wasn't her favorite and she usually took it very personal. She never usually got rejected before, but everyone has a first. She headed to homeroom alone and was one of the first few there. She began studying for her test while she waited.

Troy walked in without Cara but with these other girls and sat down in the chair. He was having fun with those girls and Gabriella was watching him. She shook her head and saw Sharpay and Taylor glaring at him. She sighed and then went back to studying.

Miss Darbus finally arrived and got the class to settle down and start with the announcement. It was the same as yesterdays. Gabriella felt her phone vibrate and she opened it and saw it was from Troy but she closed it, not wanting to reply.

The bell rung and Gabriella got up instantly going to her locker. She heard Troy call her name but she didn't turn to look. Troy came up to her locker and smiled, "Hey Gabi, you wanna talk now?" He asked her.

"Sorry, I'm kind of busy." She said coldly and closed her locker then walked away.

Troy blinked and he was confused on why she didn't want to talk to him or why she was being rude. He didn't get it, was it something he done? He didn't watch himself earlier when he was so caught up. A girl came up to him and smiled then grabbed his arms and walked with him to class.

In class, Chad walked up to Troy and introduced himself, "Hey I'm Chad." He said extending his hand.

Troy smiled, "What's up man, I'm Troy." He shook Chad's hand.

"A couple of us guy think you're chill and would like to know if you'd like to go shoot some hoops with us and hang out." Chad said to him.

"Sure, sounds cool." He smiled then watched Chad go back to his seat. Now Troy was hanging with the cool guys. This was cool.

--

**Gabriella** had calculus this class and she had a test to do. She was stressing but when she received the test she remembered everything she learned. After taking the test, she got it back and got a B+. She smiled as she was satisfied with her grade. She got up from her seat and met up with her friends, "I passed guys!" She showed them her grade.

"That's cool now you can cheer!"

Troy saw Gabriella and walked over to her, "Gabriella can we talk please…"

Gabriella smiled at Troy, "I PASSED!" She said happily, forgetting that she was pissed off at him.

"That's great!" He hugged her and a vibe went through his body again. He did really like her but he didn't show it.

She hugged him back and felt her heart flutter. She held her paper and smiled, "You're a great teacher, thank you!" She said then walked off with her friends.

Troy looked at her when she walked and stopped her, "Gabriella I was wondering you want to go celebrate later before the party?" he asked her, smiling.

"Sure." She smiled, "Pick me up at 5?" She asked him.

"Alright, see you then."

Gabriella was happy, she couldn't be mad at Troy anymore; she was going to have a one on one date with Troy.

Troy was happy as well; maybe he'll man up and tell her how he really feels.

The rest of the day, Gabriella was happy. Nate wasn't at school today so she avoided him and Cara was not either. She could care less if they were together because that gave them time to hang out. Of course every now and then he would be around a bunch of girls and ignoring the fact she was around but he would eat lunch with her and everything.

After school, she went straight to cheerleading practice and she gave the team an easy practice today. They didn't run as much and everyone was thankful of that because they did not want to run. Gabriella waved to the team afterwards and then headed home to get ready, it was around 4:30 and she had little time to get ready.

**Troy's POV.**

After school, Troy went home and prepared for his date with Gabriella. He wasn't sure how he was going to tell her how he really felt or if he was going to at all. A lot of girls were out to get him because they wanted to date him or be with him. He enjoys the girls company because he's never been around a lot of beautiful girls besides Gabriella and he really liked it.

Troy took a shower and got dressed then his cell phone rang around 4:30. It was an unknown number that he didn't know.

"Hello?"

"Hey man, it's Chad."

"Oh hey, what's up?"

"Remember us guys are hanging out today?"

"Oh yeah…" Crap. He told himself, he was suppose to hang out with Gabriella.

"Well we decided to go shoot some hoops then meet up with some of the cheerleaders before my party, you down?" He asked.

Troy thought if cheerleaders were going to be there then Gabriella would too so he assumed that she would and he would go hang with the guys then meet her, she'd understand.

"Yeah, I'm down." He said.

"Cool, I'll come pick you up, you live by Gabriella right?"

"Yeah."

"Sweet, lucky. But I'll come pick you up."

Troy hung up and then got ready, he's never hung out with cool people before let alone Gabriella but that's about it.

When Chad arrived it was around 4:50. Troy got into his car and went off to meet the rest of the boys.

**End of Troy's POV.**

**Gabriella** finally finished getting ready and waited for Troy. She sighed, flipping through her cell phone texting here and then.

It was getting near to 5 and she wondered where Troy was. She was waiting for him to come get her. After waiting for a long time, an hour had past and no Troy had showed up. She just got stood up by her best friend, how great. She got up and got changed into something comfortable then went to her bed and hugged a teddy bear, trying to fall asleep until the party.

--

**Troy** met up with the guys at the basketball court and was introduced to them. Most of them were on the basketball team and football team.

"Come on man, let's play some ball." He told Troy.

"I'm not so good, but I'll try." He said.

They played a game of 5 on 5 and on Troy's team were Chad, Zeke, Jason, and a football player name Kyle. Troy didn't think he could play basketball but when he was out in the court he was better than most of the players. He never really played basketball but he did watch it a lot. Troy shot the basket to make them win 21-19.

"Man you were on fire! Why aren't you on the basketball team?" Chad asked him.

Troy shrugged, "I don't know, never really thought I could play and didn't want to be coached by my dad." He laughed.

Zeke went over to high five Troy, "You should really try out since it's in a few days." He told him. Everyone agreed and Troy smiled. He was putting it into consideration.

Chad looked at his clock, "Alright we should go meet up with the others." He told them and they headed over to Chad's house to meet some people before the party.

Troy looked around for Gabriella but spotted Cara, "Hey I didn't think you were going to be here," He told her, "I was going to pick you up at 7."

She smiled, "Saved you the trip," She took his hand and led him upstairs.

Everyone saw this and was clapping and whistling for Troy. He laughed and rolled his eyes at the guys. He went upstairs with Cara thinking they were just going to talk but when he was up in Chad's room, Cara pushed him on the bed and kissed him deeply.

He pulled away gently, "I'm not experienced…" he told her.

"Don't worry, I'll take it slow."

--

**Around **seven, Gabriella had a wakeup call and got ready for the party. She was picked up by Taylor and Sharpay then headed to Chad's.

"What! He stood up you? That asshole is going to get a beat down." Taylor yelled.

She sighed, "I don't know, he was suppose to pick me up at 5…but I waited until 6."

Sharpay sighed, "What has become of him…"

"I don't know." Gabriella shrugged and got out of the car then headed into the party. She was greeted by Nate but she walked past him to find Troy or Cara. She looked around and someone pulled her in to dance with her but she didn't want to. She saw Chad and walked over to him, "Hey have you seen a guy with piercing blue eyes?"

"Uh you mean Troy?" He asked over the music.

"Yeah."

"He's upstairs getting lucky." Chad grinned, and then saw Taylor. "Well see ya." He went over to Taylor and took her to the dance floor.

Gabriella eyes went wide and she went upstairs, going to Chad's room, when she opened it she saw Troy in boxers and Cara in her bra and underwear. She closed her eyes almost instantly, "Oh my god." She closed the door quickly. "Okay…ew." She said then walked back downstairs furious.

"Gabriella?" Troy said then sat up but the door was already closed.

"Shh…" Cara said but then was pushed off by Troy. "Where are you going?"

"I thought I saw Gabriella."

She shrugged, "Who cares, and she's going out with Nate, why should you care? You're dating me now."

"I'm not dating you…I'm only going to the dance with you." He sighed then walked out to find Gabriella. When he came downstairs he saw a lot of people looking at him and giving him props.

"You the man!" Troy heard someone say that. He scanned the room and saw Gabriella was leaving.

"GABRIELLA!" He yelled over the music but she didn't hear.

Gabriella walked downstairs trying to find Sharpay or Taylor but nowhere to be in sight. She saw Nate and sighed, "Nate can you take me home?"

"Sure, why?"

"Just take me home, please." She walked out the door with Nate. She got into his car and drove home silently.

"What's wrong Ella?" He asked.

"Nothing." She got home and looked at him, "Thanks Nate." She said.

Nate smiled and tried to lean forward to kiss her.

"No Nate, I'm not your girlfriend."

"I don't have to be, we can be friends with benefit." He said still trying to kiss her.

"Stop Nate." She tried pushing him away but he wouldn't budge. She then followed her instinct and slapped him. "I'm going to the dance with you, no more than that." She got out of his car and went straight up to bed.

--

**Troy **sighed and went to hang out with some of the guys for the rest of the night. Cara was nowhere in sight and so he hung out with a couple girls. After the party, Chad took him home and smiled. "Well hope you try out for basketball."

He nodded, "I probably will."

Troy walked up to his house waiting for Chad to leave; once he did he went to Gabriella's house and climbs her balcony. He saw her and knocked but she didn't even look or open the door. He sighed a little then after a few minutes then sat down on the balcony waiting. He eventually fell asleep outside in the cold.

--

**The** next morning Gabriella woke up and saw Troy sleeping outside, she raised her eyebrow then opened the balcony waking him up. "Troy wake up."

Troy mumbled something then opened his eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah you kind of did, what the hell are you doing?"

"I was waiting for you to open last night."

She sighed, "Go home Troy." She said then closed the balcony door.

Troy looked at her and then went home to get ready for school. When he got to school, people were giving him high fives and all of that. More girls and guys were talking to him. He was becoming popular. He waited for Gabriella at her locker.

When Gabriella arrived at school, she saw Troy by her locker but she didn't want to talk to him.

"Gabriella…" he said.

"Troy, you know what…it's one thing to be rude to me but it's another to stand me up." She told him, "You're an asshole Troy, your changing."

"I'm still Troy, I just have more friends."

She rolled her eyes, "Troy I've known you for so many years, and never once in my life have you been rude to me." She told him.

He shrugged, "Well I'm sorry."

"No Troy, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for turning you into someone else. Someone you're not." She walked away from him.

Troy stopped her and sighed, "Well I'm sorry that people like me, and I'm sorry that I stood you up. I'm still the same person Gabriella."

She rolled her eyes, "Right." She said.

Chad called Troy over and smiled.

Gabriella saw so and looked at Troy, "Look your friends are calling." She walked away.

Troy sighed and walked over to his friends, girls surrounding him again.


	6. Jealousy

That night, Gabriella went home and sat under the usual tree. That was a place she could relax and get away from everything. It was behind their houses and by the lake. It was the only tree that Troy and Gabriella promised it was only for them. On the tree it said T + G BFF. Gabriella sat hugging her knees. She couldn't believe she turned Troy into someone who is completely different. She wanted him to be popular but she didn't want him to be blowing off friends because to hang out with the cooler crew. She knows he didn't change that much but she could tell he was beginning to change into someone he's not and if it keeps up then he'll be a jerk like most of the other guys at the school.

Troy was dropped off by Chad at his house. "Bye man, see you tomorrow."

"Wait T." he said rolling down his window. "A couple guys want to hang out tomorrow at TheSpot, you should total be down and come." He told him.

Troy shrugged, "Sure, I'll meet you guys there." He waved and headed inside; he walked into his room and pulled up his blind, when he looked out he saw Gabriella by the tree. He walked downstairs and outside by her. "Can you please talk to me Gabi?"

Gabriella didn't look at him, "What do you want me to say?"

He sat down by her and shrugged, "I don't know, tell me why you were acting like you were before." He said.

She turned to him this time, "are you kidding me troy? We made plans; you stood me up to have sex with that slut." She said. "And you know your best friend Sean? Yeah, I haven't seen him with you in a while."

He sighed, "Gabi, I told you I'm sorry, that's the past!" He rolled his eyes, saying it in a rude way.

Gabriella smirked, "Wow Troy, okay. Not once in your life have you been disrespectful to me."

He shrugged.

"You've changed."

He turned to her, "Okay and you haven't? Don't bullshit around Gabriella, you and I were suppose to be best friends we promised each other and now, look at you…you're someone else. Don't even think about saying I've changed."

Gabriella was taken aback by this, "I didn't change Troy, and this is how I grew to be." She told him, "You on the other hand, just changed because I helped you. So don't fucking tell me what who I am and am not."

"Stop being a bitch Gabriella." That accidently slipped from his mouth.

Gabriella turned and slapped him across the face, "Don't you ever call me a bitch." She stood up and went back inside; she wiped her tears and went into her room. Not once ever has he called her a bad name.

Troy sat there with his hand against his face, it didn't hurt but the emotions did. He looked after her then sighed. He headed in and tried falling asleep.

Gabriella's feelings for Troy were up and down…she grew hate for him but the more she grew hate the more she realizes she loves him.

--

The next morning, Gabriella got ready for school and headed out for her car, when she left her house she left the same time that Troy did, she looked over to him before getting into her car and backed out. Troy looked at her and shook his head then got into Chad's car.

"Hey man." He said.

"What's up with you and Gab?" Chad asked Troy.

He shrugged, "She's just my best friend."

"Since when did you guys become best friends?" Chad asked and drove to school.

Troy shrugged, "I don't know…since we were young."

"Really? She never mentioned you…" He told him and then parked in the lot. They both got out of the car and headed inside the school. "So tonight, remember." He told him and walked over to Taylor.

Troy walked to his locker and was greeted by two girls, "Hey Troy." They said to him.

He smiled, "Hey girls, how can I help you?" He asked them while putting the combination to his locker in.

"Well we were wondering you want to hang out with us and a couple other girls tonight?" They asked him.

Troy smiled, "Sorry ladies, I have plans tonight but you two are definitely welcome to come join us." He said to them. He didn't know what was coming over him, he had a lot of confidence and learned how to talk to girls with the help of Chad and some of Gabriella.

--

Gabriella parked her car and headed into the school, she was greeted by a guy and he walked her to her locker.

"So Gabriella, do you have any plans for tonight?" he asked her, smiling. He had a hopeful look on his face.

Gabriella bit her lower lip and looked ahead. She didn't want to be mean but she didn't want to go. She looked ahead and saw Troy with two girls, "Actually, I don't." She smiled.

"Cool, would you like to hang out with me?" He asked her.

"Sure, let's go to TheSpot." She told him, she had no clue Troy and his friends were going to be there.

"Alright, I'll pick you up say around…8ish?" He asked her.

She nodded, "Alright sounds good, good-bye Colin." She said and waved. She went over to her locker passing Troy and the two girls.

"Hi Gabi." Troy said to her when the girls walked away.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Don't make me slap you again Troy, and this time I'll make sure it hurts." She said.

Troy smirked, "Are you still mad at me? Come on I'm your best friend you can't be mad." He told her.

"Well guess what? I am." She walked off.

Troy and Gabriella managed to avoid each other until school was over. They would see each other from afar but they didn't say anything. Gabriella managed to get through cheerleading without bitching at any of the cheerleaders.

Gabriella drove home and saw a lot of cars parked at Troy's house, she recognize some of the cars…they were boys at school. Gabriella rolled her eyes and went inside getting ready for her date with Colin. Gabriella received a text message and she clicked Read.

_Hey did you hear about the pre funking party at Troy's?_

_Taylor._

Gabriella raised her eyebrow. Since when did Troy drink? She asked herself. She pressed Reply and wrote.

_No, are you going to it?_

_Xoxo – Gabs._

She clicked Send and before she knew it she got a text back.

_No, but Chad is there and I heard girls are there too._

Gabriella read it and smirked, she couldn't believe Troy would have a party when he was forbidden to do so.

--

**Flashback to during school.**

"Hey Troy!" Chad walked over to Troy during lunch.

"Hey Chad what's up?" He asked.

"Are your parents going to be home around 5ish?" He asked.

"No I don't think so. Why?" He asked.

"Well let's have a party at your house, we'll prefunk then we'll go to TheSpot."

"Pre-funk?"

"Yeah, where we get drunk then go somewhere." He told him, smiling.

Troy didn't drink, he didn't like it…but if he wanted to fit it then he would have to. He shrugged, "Sure I guess…but we have to be totally under control." He told Chad.

"Alright, I'll spread the word to the team." He told him then left.

Troy sighed; he knew he was going to be in big trouble.

After school, Troy went home with some people and then it turned out to be the whole basketball team and half the cheer squad. Chad had brought alcohol and everyone at least took a shot besides him so far.

Chad walked over to Troy with a girl on his arm and smiled, "Troy my man! Take a shot!" He told him.

Troy looked at Chad…wait wasn't he dating Taylor? Troy smiled and took the shot, almost wanting to puke but he didn't. "Hey we're still going to TheSpot right?"

"Yeah in like 2 hours." He told him then went off somewhere.

Troy looked around and spotted Cara. He avoided her and saw the two girls from today. He walked over to them and grinned, "Hello there." He said to them. The blonde one; Audrey was the first one to notice him.

"Hey you." She smiled, flinging her arms around him.

The brunette; Brooke then noticed him and smiled, "Hey cutie." She said.

Audrey took his hand and led him to the closet.

"What are you- we doing?" he asked.

Audrey kissed him and smiled against his lips.

Troy didn't complain and kissed her back. They kissed for a while until Chad walked in and laughed. "Get out of there guys!" He said, still laughing.

Troy smirked and muttered under his breath, walking out of the closet with Audrey. Everyone looked and clapped for Troy. Cara was scoffing in disgust at him. Troy smirked and waved in a mocking way. He then walked to sit on the couch with Audrey on his lap.

Two hours later, they all left for the hang out spot.

--

At the time, Colin picked her up right on time. Gabriella got into his car and smiled, "Hey." She said.

"You look beautiful tonight." He said to her.

Gabriella smiled, "Thank you." She told him and then they headed down for the place. When they got down there, Gabriella found a table outside for them that viewed the beach. "This is so nice." She smiled gently.

Colin cleared his throat, "So why'd you say yes to me?" he asked her.

She shrugged, "I don't know." She smiled. The two were laughing and having fun until a bunch of people came in. Gabriella turned her head and saw everyone on the basketball team and some girls on the cheer squad, but what made her heart drop was Troy. She looked at him and he looked back at her.

Troy looked at her then looked at Colin and he felt a jealous rage over him. His arms were still around Audrey though.

Gabriella looked at Audrey and noticed she was drunk. That was against the rules to be a cheerleader. Usually she wouldn't tell but she didn't like Audrey right now because she's around Troy.

"Gabriella!" Chad finally said, "Hey Colin." He said to him.

Gabriella smiled and Colin waved.

Gabriella's eyes were still on Troy's as his was still on hers. Troy finally said something, "new boyfriend Gabriella?" He asked.

Gabriella's eyes narrowed, "No, he's my friend." She said in a straight tone. "What about you? Audrey…new girlfriend?"

Troy shook his head, "What's it to you?"

Gabriella shrugged, and then turned her attention back to Colin. "We should go."

"Aw why? We can hang out!" Chad said, he was drunk though and he didn't notice him still around a girl.

Gabriella looked at Chad, "I don't think Taylor would be happy if she saw you with another girl." She told him, smirking.

"Taylor who?" Chad said, drunk.

Gabriella looked at Colin, "Let's go." She told him, grabbing her bag and headed out, gently pushing Troy.

Troy watched them leave and then looked at Chad, "I'll meet up with you guys later. Audrey I'll see you tomorrow." He headed out of the door and followed their car.

Colin looked over at Gabriella in the car, "everything okay?"

"Yeah just take me home…please."

Colin nodded and took her home, "Sorry tonight didn't go as plan, we can try again?"

She sighed, "Colin you're a great friend…but that's all." She smiled and kissed his cheek, "Sorry." She walked out of the car and then walked back to her door but was stopped by Troy.

"Gabi, let's talk." He said in more of a demand voice.

Gabriella shook her head and walked to the tree.

"Colin isn't a good guy."

"Um yeah he is, he's nice to me unlike some people. And why do you care anyways?" She asked him.

He shrugged, "I'm just watching out for you."

"Then I can ask why Audrey?" She asked.

"What's it to you. She's just a friend." He said.

She rolled her eyes, "She's a slut too."

"You're jealous."

"I am not, you're jealous of me and because I went out with Colin."

He smirked, "Yeah. Right." He rolled his eyes, "I can now have any girl I want Gabi." He said.

She rolled her eyes, "You do what you want." She told him then went to stand up.

"You're the one that changed me Gabi."

"I wish I didn't. I don't understand why you wanted to change into someone you're not. I hate the new you."

"Well I like the new me."

"Good for you."

Troy looked at her and sighed, he grabbed her arm and pulled her and kissed her on the lips without her expecting it. It was more of a deep kiss then a light one.

**Anyone have ideas of what I can for more drama or something?**


	7. Spring Fling

Gabriella felt his lips against hers. At first, she was caught off guard but when she realizes this was happening, she pushed him back hard and slapped him.

"WHAT THE HELL!" She screamed.

Troy touched his face, he was never been slapped before from anyone besides Gabriella.

"What's wrong with you Troy?!" She was yelling still. She demanded to know why he kissed her.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"Why did you kiss me?" She asked him. Maybe deep down she wanted that but she was angry with him right now and she didn't want him to kiss her.

"Didn't you want to kiss me? Because last time I checked, all girls wanted to kiss me." He said in a mocking voice.

"Wow, your ego is big." She said to him, smirking. "And no. I didn't want to kiss you, never kiss me again." She told him, crossing her arm. "You live your life the way you want it, but don't expect me to be a part of it." She said, this time walking away and made sure he didn't pull her back. She went into her house.

Troy watched her go; he didn't understand why she hated him that much. If she made him, she could break him. Troy really liked this new life; he didn't understand why Gabriella wasn't happy for him. He wasn't a bad guy, he wasn't. He was just more confident and happy. He took out his cell phone and texted her.

_If you were my best friend you would be happy for me._

_Troy._

He clicked sent and waited for her to text back. He went into his house and went to his room.

Gabriella received a text message and read it. She shook her head and replied.

_You're right. I'm sorry._

_Xoxo Gabi._

She looked over her text and shook her head; she clicked the delete button and closed her phone instead, not sending the text message. She was too angry with him.

Troy waited for a text message because when he texts her, she usually text back within twenty seconds. _Guess we're not friends._ He told himself. He sighed and charged his phone then tried going back to sleep.

Gabriella looked up at the ceiling then closed her eyes, falling back asleep. She did feel bad and she should be happy for him but the way he's been acting towards her…it was disrespectful and she didn't appreciate that. _Life was better the way it use to be_. She told herself. It would've been really cool if he became popular but had the same personality.

--

Gabriella didn't talk to Troy for a couple days; whenever he would see her she would avoid him. He would avoid her too. They didn't talk much…they didn't go to the tree. They didn't do anything. She would see Troy with more girls and more guys would pay attention to Gabriella. Troy was making more friends from the football and basketball team. Troy had tried out for the basketball team, he made it. Being on the school's basketball team made him just that much more popular than before and every time Gabriella saw him…he was surrounded by more and more girls. The big dance was around the corner. Gabriella was still going with Nate as friends. Troy wasn't going with Cara anymore; he dropped her and is now going with Audrey. There were nominations for the dance for Queen and King.

"Listen up class," Miss Darbus began. "We have the list for nomination for Spring Fling Court. For Kings the nominations are Nate Daniels, Chad Danforth, Colin Woods, Michael Wills, Jason Cross, Zeke Baylor, and Troy Bolton." Girls giggled at that name and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

Troy smirked and looked back quickly at Gabriella then looked forward.

"The nominations for queens are," Miss Darbus flipped the page, "Gabriella Montez, Audrey Smith, Brooke Alki, Cara Villa, Sharpay Evans, Taylor McKessie, and Lauren Fox." She finished.

Gabriella smiled and then looked at her friends and smiled at them.

After class, Gabriella went to her lockers to get her books. Colin came over to her and smiled, "Hey congrats on making court." He said to her.

Gabriella smiled, "Thanks." She said, closing her locker after grabbing her calculus book.

"Are you still going to the dance with Nate?" He asked her.

She shrugged, "I guess." She smiled, "And who are you going with?"

Colin smiled, "My best friend Sarah, I thought it would be cool if I went with my best friend who I've known since I was like 12." He smiled, shrugging.

Gabriella looked to the ground. It would've been right if she went with Troy, but they weren't friends right now. "That's cool." She gave a smile to him.

"So I'll see you later in Chemistry?" He asked her.

"Yeah, see you then." She smiled then walked off to class. Before she could look up, someone ran into her and made her stumble but not fall.

"Sorry." The person said then looked down to see Gabriella.

Gabriella looked up and saw Troy. She blinked and stood in front of him. "Watch where you're going."

Troy smirked, "Well my bad, shish no need to get bitchy about it." He said to her.

"You're an ass Troy." She said to him.

"Not my fault. This is who I am now." He said to her, grinning. His friends walked up to him and smiled at Gabriella. "Hey Gabriella." They said to her.

She smiled at them, "Hey guys." She said then looked at Troy and rolled her eyes, walking away.

"I think she digs you Troy." Chad said to him, grinning.

He sighed, _I wish_. He told himself then laughed fakely. "Right." He rolled his eyes and walked with them to the next class.

Gabriella looked back at him and shook her head; it was kind of tough for her. She had no one to tell anything to anymore besides Taylor and Sharpay but it wasn't the same. She did miss her Troy but whenever she sees him she gets mad. She didn't know why she was so mad. She just wanted the old Troy, the old personality at least.

Taylor walked up to Gabriella and sighed, "Me and Chad broke up…"

"Why so?"

"I found out he cheated on me." Taylor frowned.

Gabriella wrapped her arm around her friend, "Those boys are dumb." She said to her. "They're not worth it."

Taylor sighed, "I know…he was my date to the dance though. Now I'm dateless." She said to her.

"You can have my date." Gabriella laughed.

Taylor laughed, "Right." She smirked then walked into calculus. "So what's up with you and Troy?" She asked her.

"I don't know. We're not friends." She shrugged.

"Weren't you guys like best friends?" She asked her.

"Was." Gabriella said.

"What happened?"

"Long story."

"I have time."

Gabriella sighed, "He kissed me, I slapped him, we argued, we're not friends." She shrugged, "End of story."

Taylor eyes widen, "HE KISSED YOU?"

She shrugged.

"Isn't that a good thing, I thought you liked him."

"I did. Before he turned into total jerk thinking he's the shit." She said to her.

"Things will get better Gabriella." Taylor told her, "he's going to realize people like the outside of him and once he finds out he'll come back to you because you're the only one that would understand him."

Gabriella sighed, "I don't know…I turned him into a monster, I wish I could go back and change things. I was just trying to help a best friend."

"I know Gab." She smiled then they began class.

--

Troy headed to History with his friends and Audrey. He sat next to Audrey and smiled at her, "So you stoked for the dance?"

"With you, hell yeah." She smiled.

Troy grinned, "Me too." He said then the teacher passed him his paper back.

"Mr. Bolton…I don't' know what's gotten into you but you're starting to slip in History." Mr. Onders said to him.

Troy looked at his paper and saw a C- on it. He usually got A's on his papers. He smirked at Mr. Onders and shrugged. "My bad." He then heard giggles from his friends.

Mr. Onders sighed, "I have to see you after class Mr. Bolton." He said then walked away.

"Great." He muttered.

Chad looked at Mr. Onders, "Sir, that's not possible we have basketball practice after. We're training Troy."

Mr. Onders smirked, "Well I guess basketball is going to have to wait huh." He said to him then walked back to the front of the class.

Chad sighed, "Well your dad isn't going to be happy." Chad shrugged then went back to talking to the others.

Troy smirked and looked at Audrey, "You want to ditch next period?" He asked her.

She shrugged, "Sure." She smiled, biting on her lip.

--

Taylor and Gabriella were working on their work and finally got it finished, "What do you have next period?"

Gabriella smiled, "I have free period. You?"

"Ugh, AP Social Studies." Taylor groaned. "I wished I had free period. What are you going to do free period?"

"Probably go to the gym and think of a new dance to teach to the team." Gabriella told her.

"I'm excited to see how it goes!" Taylor told Gabriella. Taylor headed up to the room to turn in her work and the bell had rung.

The two left the room, talking with each other.

"So what's with you and Colin?" she asked Gabriella.

She smiled, "He's a nice guy." She shrugged. "But he's just my friend. I told him we're strictly friends."

"He's a really nice guy; you should give him a shot. He's ten times better then Nate." Taylor smirked, "That's for sure."

Gabriella agreed, "Well of course, but I don't know…he's not boyfriend material…more like a good friend. He's sweet; I don't want to hurt him."

"You must like bad boys then."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and went over to her locker, "Well I'll just have to see this Friday at the dance." She put her calculus book back in and grabbed her cheer bag. "I'll see you at lunch." She told her friend then walked off to the gym.

--

"So what are we going to do next period if we're not ditching class…because I have free period and you don't." Audrey said.

"Let's go to the gym, no one should be there." He said, "Most basketball guys have class anyways and we don't practice unless we're doing it as a team." He told Audrey and took her hand.

"You're a naughty boy you know that." Audrey said to him, grinning.

Troy laughed and led her into the gym. He placed his hand on her waist and pulled her in, not hearing anyone.

Gabriella had her head phones in and she was dancing to the music. She was trying new moves and such. She was in shorts and a sports bra.

Troy turned his head to see Gabriella and he stopped in his steps with his arms around Audrey, which she stopped moving too.

Gabriella spun and saw them, she stopped instantly. Her face was a shade of pink…either from blushing because they saw or she was hot. Her face dropped instantly when she saw those two. She wiped her forehead and turned off her music.

Audrey smirked, "Hey Gabs are you working on a new dance?" She asked.

Gabriella took off her head phones and nodded, "Yeah…just something new." She knew Troy had class this period. She was shocked to see him skip as she knew he would never do that in his life.

Troy looked to the floor, not wanting to meet her gaze.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked them, mostly to Troy but she was looking at Audrey.

"Well um…" Audrey began to say.

"I'm teaching her how to play basketball." Troy said aloud.

Audrey looked at Troy then at Gabriella and nodded.

Gabriella felt awkward with these two. She wasn't friends with Troy anymore and usually she would be comfortable around him but she felt really weird and could feel her anger come at her again. "Alright then." She said then stopped dancing and went to go do some laps in the gym.

Troy looked at her then shook his head and turned back to Audrey. This was his chance to make her jealous, to see if this was the reason why she hated him so much and if she had feelings for him. He grabbed a basketball out of the rack and handed it to Audrey, "okay shoot it." He smiled.

Audrey smiled and shot it, but it was an air ball…it almost hit Gabriella when she was running by. "SORRY!" she yelled, smiling.

Gabriella shot a look at Audrey but continued running.

"Here this is how you shoot it." Troy went behind her and wrapped his arms around her, showing her the form to shoot. His face was close to her neck, making her giggle.

Gabriella saw this and shook her head, trying to not look. Anger was flowing through her; she couldn't help but run faster.

Audrey bit her lip and turned her head so he was kissing her ear.

_How the hell did he turn like this? How did he become a shy and timid guy to a guy with the biggest ego in the world?_ Gabriella asked herself.

Troy shot a quick glance at Gabriella then noticed she was looking and he saw her eyes getting watery, he didn't mean to make her cry but then before he knew it Audrey kissed him on the lips.

Gabriella stopped running and shook her head, she grabbed her cheer bag and water bottle and headed for the door, "ASSHOLE!" she yelled when she was walking out of the door. She wiped her tears and walked out to the locker room.

Troy pulled away, looking at Gabriella. _Okay so she really is jealous. Maybe she likes me. No. She doesn't. She hates me, I'm someone different but I like the new me, why can't she be happy for me? I really like her, why can't I just tell her. Why am I always blowing her off?_ So many questions were running through his head. "I should go to class." He said to her then walked away.

Audrey frowned, not sure why he was being like this now.

Gabriella got changed quickly and re-did her makeup then left the locker room. She ran into Troy. She shook her head and walked the other way.

"Hey." He stopped her, "Why'd you leave the gym?" he asked her.

Gabriella shook her head, "Leave me alone Troy, I mean it." She wanted to walk away.

Troy smirked, "There's something you're not telling me." He said to her, "Why do you hate it so much that I'm with Audrey? You seem to hate that more then you hate that I've became." He said to her. "She's a good person, she respects me."

Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"Answer me."

_Because I'm in love with you,_ she told herself. "What."

"Huh Gabriella? Why do you always seem to be so pissed off when you see me with another girl?" He asked her.

Gabriella held back her tears.

"And you know what? This isn't all me. Why since I've become someone knew you been talking to me more? Why didn't you talk to me when I was the guy I use to be. This is why I like the new me, because you actually talk to me…like the way we use to." He told her, "Don't push all the blame on me." He began. "You were ashamed before to call me your best friend, weren't you?"

Gabriella's eyes narrowed, "Don't even say that." She said to him.

"It's true isn't it?" he asked her.

"Shut up Troy, it's not like that." She began, still holding back her tears.

"So don't even hate me when I didn't do as much damaged as you did. That promised we made, it meant something Gabriella. You changed so much, you grew away from me. You started noticing popular people faster" He told her. "Then you had to go and become someone different, changing…leaving me behind. Now that I'm on your level you hate that fact, don't you."

**Flashback.**

_"Hey Gabriella!" Troy yelled out of his window to hers._

_Gabriella stuck her head out to look at Troy. "Yeah?"_

_"You want to go play in the rain later?" He asked her._

_"SURE!" She laughed, "It's going to be so much fun." She said to him, smiling._

_"Kay cool, meet me at the tree in 15 minutes." Troy said to her, then closed his window and went to go each lunch before he could go play._

_Gabriella grinned, then got dressed and then her phone rang. Gabriella raised her eyebrow and looked to see on her ID to see who was calling. Her friend Taylor was calling. She smiled and began gossiping with her best friend. She lost track of time and forgot she told Troy they were going to play outside. Gabriella began laughing over the phone and talking…she sat by the window and continued talking._

_Troy stood under the tree in the rain, looking up __at Gabriella's__ window…seeing she was on the phone. Twenty minutes had past and she was still on the phone. He sighed to himself then walked back inside._

**End of Flashback.**

Gabriella looked up at him.

"I guess I'm not the bad guy after all." He said, and then walked away.

Gabriella watched him walk away. She didn't realize from his point of view. He did have a point on what he was saying. All she did was hate and hate…she didn't realize that she blew him off before and totally ditched him. Gabriella stood in the middle of the concourse, looking ahead at where he was walking off.

Troy shook his head and finally realized that he did have a point to what he was saying. Yes, he messed up a lot but so did she.

After school, Troy went to basketball practice and Gabriella went to cheer practice. None of them talked though they even avoid looking at each other.

--

The next few days were like that…they avoided looking at each other in class and everywhere they went even when they had a sports meeting and such. They didn't even talk to each other. Gabriella looked at him a few times, and he did too but they never met each other's gazes. The dance was here and everything was hectic. Gabriella had found her dress she wanted to wear and she was ready to find out if she got queen or not. At 6, Nate had picked her up. She smiled at him then got into his car and they headed to the school first.

--

Troy got his tux and his tie matched Audrey's dress. Troy really cleaned up by himself. He fixed his hair and shaved. He slipped on his shoes and then grabbed his keys to the car and headed to pick Audrey up. Once he picked her up they headed for the school.

"I hope you get Spring King." Audrey said to him smiling.

"Me too. I hope you win too." He said, but he didn't care if she won. Honestly he wanted Gabriella to win, but whatever happened was cool. He offered her his arm and they headed into the dance. A lot of people were there. Troy scanned the room pretending he was looking for some friends but he wanted to see how Gabriella looked tonight.

Audrey had saw her friends and looked at Troy, "I'll see you in a bit." She smiled then walked over to them.

Troy slipped his hands into his pocket and looked around. A lot of girls were looking and smiling at him but he tried to avoid them. Once he spotted Gabriella with Nate, he felt a jealousy pain in him. He then watched them go to the dance floor. He looked back for Audrey and excused her from her friends, "Let's dance." He said to her even though he was a horrible dancer.

Audrey shrugged and walked over to the dance floor with him.

Gabriella was dancing innocently with Nate but when she noticed Troy was on the dance floor with Audrey and they were dancing dirty, she shook her head. She didn't want to be around them. She walked away and headed over to Sharpay and Taylor.

Troy looked at Gabriella and smirked.

Gabriella sighed, "He's really pissing me off."

"Who?" Sharpay asked.

Her date, Zeke was hanging with his friends and Taylor's date was somewhere. She didn't know. She wanted to go with Chad but they were broken up.

"Troy." Gabriella said.

Taylor crossed her arm, "What did he do?"

She pointed to where he was and sighed.

"He's an ass Gab." Sharpay said.

"Oh, I know." Gabriella said then walked with them over to the food table and continued talking with her friends.

Troy finally stopped dancing and looked at Gabriella and sighed, he walked over to her and stood with them. "Gabriella what is your problem? Seriously." He said to her.

Taylor and Sharpay looked at each other and walked away from them.

"What do you want Troy, didn't you have enough? Didn't you yell at me enough?" she asked him, wanting to find Nate.

"Every time I'm with Audrey you go away, what's wrong with her? Why don't you like to see me with her?" He asked, "Damn it Gabriella just TELL ME!" He yelled.

_**"Okay, the votes are in!"**_

"Troy." Gabriella said.

"What, why don't you like to see me with her?"

_**"And Spring King and Queen are…."**_

"BECAUSE I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU." She finally spit it out.

**"****Well…oh.**_**TROY BOLTON AND AUDREY SMITH!"**_

Everyone gasped because they thought…well knew that Gabriella was going to win. Something was wrong with the votes.

"Well congratulation." She said then walked off.

Troy blinked, "What?" He was shocked to hear she was in love with him.

Everyone pushed the two on stage, a little bit of people clapped because they were in shocked. Gabriella and Troy were supposed to win but in the end she didn't win but he did. He was too shocked to move, his friends had to push him on stage. Audrey was smiling and clapping in happiness. She was so happy she won though she knew that Gabriella was supposed to win. Troy looked out at Gabriella and saw her walking away to the back. He saw Nate following her; he didn't know what to do. So many things were happening so fast for him.

_**"Now it's only right for the traditional dance." **_


	8. Old Times

"Can you just take me home, please?" Gabriella said, folding her arms. She didn't want to be here anymore, she didn't even know why she bothered.

"Hey it's okay that neither of us won…deep down we know that we're the real winners." Nate told her, he tried wrapping his arm over her shoulder but she shrugged his arm off and continued walking to his car.

Nate followed behind her and got in the passenger seat. "So what's with you and Bolton?" He asked.

"Nothing." She told him, she didn't even bother looking at him; she looked out the window the whole ride back.

"Oh right, so what I see is 'nothing'." He rolled his eyes.

"You got that right." She said to him.

"I don't know who he thinks he is, thinking he can rule the school like he does." Nate smirked, he didn't like Troy much. Gabriella didn't care what Nate thought though.

She shrugged, "Apparently, he is." She said to him, and then sighed. She was anxious to go home and lay in bed. She could feel Nate's eyes on her and it was bugging her. She finally arrived home and got out the car before Nate could stop her.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Nate said aloud before she closed the door on him.

Gabriella walked towards her house without looking back; she wiped her tears from her eyes and walked up the stairs and into her room. She couldn't believe she told Troy that she was in love with him. The old him, at least. She changed out of her dress and into some PJs and a tank top. She did get quite lonely at home when her mom was away. She was a small girl in a big house. She just wished she had someone here to keep her company. Troy use to when she was younger.

--

Troy stood on the dance floor, sharing the annual dance with Audrey. His mind wasn't on her though, it was on Gabriella and what she said to him before he was announced king. He wanted to know what Gabriella meant when she said that she was in love with him. He wanted to clear things up. If he was thinking, he knew that he should've run after her the second she walked away. He was too stunned or shocked to do anything now. _What am I thinking?_ He asked himself. _She told me she loves me, I love her to. I should go after her instead of being here._ He stopped dancing with Audrey which made her have a confuse face and amongst other people they were confused to.

"Sorry Audrey, I have to be somewhere right now." He said to her, "Congratulations by the way." With that, he ran out of the gym and into his car to drive back to Gabriella's house. He loosened up his tie and drove carefully but fast on the street. How could he be so stupid, how did he not see this coming? He came up on their street and pulled into her driveway. He looked up and saw her lights were still on. He went up to the front door and rang the door bell. He waited for about three minutes before ringing it again. After not getting a response, he decided to climb her balcony. That was what he usually did anyways. He climbed the tree and onto her balcony. He looked through the window and saw her laying on the bed. He watched her for a minute before knocking. She wouldn't wake up so he tried to see if the door was unlocked. When he turned it, it opened. He smirked a bit then walked in, closing the door behind him.

Gabriella had heard the door shut and her eyes open swiftly, she was lying there, too scared to move.

Troy came closer to her and sat on the bed, leaning over to wake her up.

When Gabriella felt him sitting, she quickly balled her hand in a fist and swung with all her power across his face.

Troy instantly fell backwards as it was a reaction. "OW!" He said, lying on the floor.

Gabriella turned her head to see Troy, she was half relieved and half mad, "OH MY GOD, I'M SO SORRY!" She said, and then sat up. She was in her angry mood again, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" She asked him. Her heart was still beating fast because she was so scared.

Troy stood up and sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I needed to talk to you." He told her, "I tried ringing the door bell and knocking two times, then you wouldn't answer so I thought I could climb the balcony like old ti-"he was cut off by her.

"Old times, that was back then Troy, this is now. I didn't say you could climb my balcony anymore. Only my best friends can." She said coldly.

He ignored what she said and sat on her bed, whether or not she minded if he did. "About earlier…" he began to say.

"Troy, I don't want to talk about it okay?" She said to him.

"Did you mean what you said?" he asked her.

She shrugged, "I fell in love with you Troy…the old you. Not _this_ guy." She said, moving her hand up and down at him in motion.

"Then why did you change my appearance and all of that?" He asked her, still confused on all of this.

"It wasn't about how you looked Troy, I was helping you on that. That's what I thought you wanted, but then you go and change who you really are…someone you're not." Gabriella grabbed the teddy bear on her bed and hugged it to her chest.

He looked down to the floor.

She looked at him, "everything you do now is things I never expected you to do." She told him, using her calm voice. "Like basketball, blowing your friends and me off, failing class…and all of that."

"How did you know I'm failing class?"

"That doesn't matter," She told him, "What does matter is who you really are, you're acting like someone you're not just to be liked. What happens when they find out who you really are and decide to ditch you? How would you feel?" she asked him.

He shrugged again. "I guess I turned into a little jerk didn't I?"

"A little?"

"Okay, A big jerk." He said to her, sighing. He played with his fingers and finally looked at her.

"I just want to be friends again, but I don't know if that can happen." She said to him.

"Why not?" He asked her.

"I lost trust…and respect for you Troy." She began to say, pulling up her knees now.

Troy sighed, "I understand."

"We can still talk and all; I just don't want anything to be weird." She told him.

He nodded, "Alright, I promise to be a good guy again." He said to her.

"Promise is a big word." She told him.

"I'll compromise." He smiled then stood up and looked at her, "You're a good person Gabi; I just need to learn from you." He smiled, and then walked to the door of the balcony.

"Troy?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"Congrats on getting Spring Fling King." She smiled.

"Thanks, I thought you should've won too, I don't know how Audrey won." He sighed.

"It's whatever." She smiled, and then watched him walk away. Something she forgot to clear up was how he looked jealous when she hung out with other guys. She didn't know if he felt the same way that she did. She didn't get that cleared up with him. All she is worrying about right now is their friendship. It's the start of something at least. Gabriella watched him go down then went back to bed. Gabriella was looking forward to the prep game party that Coach Bolton was having tomorrow.

--

Gabriella woke up the next morning, smelling breakfast? That's right, she was smelling the morning breakfast. Her first thought was Mrs. Bolton who came here every other morning when Gabriella's mom was away and would cook Gabriella food. She headed downstairs, yawning and turned to the kitchen. "Mrs. Bolton breakfast smells really good…" She said then stopped when she saw it was Troy. "Troy?" She said.

Troy turned and grinned, "Hey you." He said to her, flipping the pancakes.

Gabriella knew Troy could cook really well. He hasn't cooked for her in a while and she wasn't sure why he was cooking her breakfast this fine morning.

"What are you doing here? Where's your mom?" She asked him, sitting on the stool in the kitchen.

"I told her to stay home and I can cook you breakfast." He nodded, "it's the least I could do." He told her.

Gabriella looked at him weirdly but didn't complain. She waited for him to be finished cooking then they ate breakfast together, like old times. "So are you excited for tonight?" She asked him, smiling.

"It's just a party." He smiled, "Casual and classy." He shrugged.

"Still, it's going to be the basketball team and the cheerleading team. That should be fun." She smiled at him. She placed another pancake on her plate and poured the syrup.

"I always wondered what these parties are like…my dad would always tell me it's so fun and all." He shrugged, "It never really hit me that I would do it until I actually tried out for basketball." He told her, "Now my dad is pushing me extremely hard." He rolled his eyes, and then ate a piece of bacon.

She laughed, "Typical dad, huh." She smiled then cut up her pancakes into pieces. They shared a casual conversation then they finished and washed the dishes together. "Thanks for breakfast Troy." She smiled.

"You know it." He grinned, and then dried his hand, "Well I'll see you tonight." He told her. He waved then left the house and back to his house.

Gabriella waved to him then sat on the counter for a minute thinking. She smiled to herself then walked upstairs to take a shower.

--

That night, Gabriella was getting ready at home with her two best friends. They were already dressed into their formal dress and now doing hair and makeup. "So Taylor, are you going to try and talk to Chad tonight?" She asked her.

Taylor shrugged, "I don't know if I can forgive him after he cheated on me."

Sharpay was curling Taylor's hair and smiled. "I know you two are going to get back together." She said to her.

Taylor looked up at Sharpay in the mirror and smiled, "You're so lucky you and Zeke can keep a relationship."

Sharpay laughed, "Well you know how we do."

Gabriella rolled her eyes and applied some mascara. "I think tonight is going to be fun." She said blinking a few times.

Taylor looked over at Gabriella, "Do you think it's going to be awkward for you and Troy?" She asked her.

She shook her head, "No he and I are friends, and we talked about it last night."

Sharpay smiled, "I think you two will end up together."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Whatever Sharpay." She laughed then the three of them finished getting ready and were picked up by the limo full of cheerleaders.

Gabriella and the rest of the girls were laughing and having fun. She could sense Audrey was glaring at her but she didn't care. After having fun and laughing, Gabriella got everyone to quiet down. "Okay girls, listen up. Tonight is a very special night for the boys, so I want each of us to pick out a guy and cater them a dance." Gabriella said, "They're preparing for their first game of the season soon." All the girls began giggling and laughing. "The order of choosing is like this; Me, Cara, Sharpay, Audrey, Taylor, Brooke, Sarah, Hollie, Heather, Jessica, Megan, and then our only freshman on the varsity team Kyla." The girls began talking again.

Audrey spoke up when everyone started talking, "Why do you get to go first?" She asked her, rudely.

"Because I'm captain." Gabriella said instantly.

"So what? That's unfair." Audrey said again.

"Well deal with it." Gabriella snapped and everyone became quiet.

Gabriella pulled out another listen. "The list of basketball boys are; Chad, Jason, Zeke, Troy, Colin, Nate, Brad, Jeffery, Shane, MJ, Leon, and Raymond."

The girls began talking about who they want to choose. She heard Audrey talking about Troy, she rolled her eyes then continued talking to her friends before Sharpay made an announcement.

"If any of you choose Zeke, you'll be sorry." Sharpay warned.

Gabriella laughed and so did Taylor. They finally arrived at the venue and walked into the room. Basketball boys were there, coach were there. A lot of the parents were there. Everyone's parents except for Gabriella's; her mom was away on a trip. Gabriella scanned the room, seeing a lot of people mingling. She smiled to herself then saw coach Bolton on stage. She smiled and listened to his speech.

"This year, our team is going to have a great season. We have the best players leading us to the championships. I can feel it! This year my son Troy Bolton is on the team and he's terrific. Even if our team doesn't win, we still have the players with the biggest heart. Let's go team! Go Wildcats!" Coach Bolton said.

Everyone cheered and then the cheer coach came on stage, "Okay ladies it's time to pick your boys out! Can we have Gabriella Montez come on stage to explain?"

Gabriella headed up to the stage, passing Troy. She smiled at him then headed on to the stage to the banister. "Well, we know you boys are stressing a lot and have a lot on your mind. We girls want to share a dance and make you have a fun day!" She said. "Can I have the squad come up here please?" She watched the girls scramble on stage.

The cheer coach took back the microphone, "Okay Gabriella take your pick."

Troy looked up stage, wondering who she was going to choose. He wanted her to pick him, but he didn't know if she would pick him. He thought she would pick Nate instead.

"I'd like Troy Bolton please." She told the coach, and then felt Audrey's eyes on her. She smirked a bit and then the coach announced his name.

Troy looked up, smiling. Gabriella walked down to meet him on the dance floor.

"Come on partner." She grinned then shared a dance with him.

Everyone went through their list. Taylor had ended up picking Chad which soon, Gabriella saw them making up. She smiled then looked back at Troy.

"So why did you pick me?" Troy asked her, smiling.

"You're my best friend, aren't you?" she asked him, smiling.

Troy smiled then continued dancing with her. This would've been the right moment to tell her how he felt, but he was too scared.

Gabriella looked up at him with soft eyes. She wished she could kiss him. She didn't know why she was so easy on him. She should be hating him, but there's always a part of her that knows that he's her best friend and they make up in like two seconds. Gabriella decided to break the silence, "So Spring Break is coming up." She smiled.

"Oh I know, I'm so excited." He said.

"Are you planning on going to the Cancun trip with us?" She asked him. "Or are you planning to go with the boys?" Gabriella moved to the rhythm on the music.

"The boys are planning on Cancun too." He told her, "that would be cool if we went." He smiled, "We can spend our year having fun." He laughed. Before any of this happened, if he was the old troy, he would be hanging at home playing video games. Now he's hanging out with a lot of people and is taking a spring break trip.

She smiled, "Remember when we were younger, we always wanted to go to Disneyland and we told each other when we were big kids we would go without our parents knowing?" She laughed, she remembered back then.

Troy remembered and laughed, "Oh yeah I remembered. I also remembered I accidently told my mom and she said she'd kill us if we did that." He looked down at her and smiled.

"Memories." She sighed.

"They last forever." He told her.

The song ended but the two didn't break apart until Audrey walked over to them rudely. "Hey Troy." She said in an annoyed and flirty voice.

Gabriella pulled away from Troy.

Troy cleared his throat, "Oh hey, what's up?" he asked her.

"You want to dance?" She asked him.

Gabriella looked at Troy and smiled gently, nodding behind her back.

Troy shrugged, "I guess," he said then they went to the dance floor.

Gabriella walked back over to Sharpay, Zeke, Chad, and Taylor, "Hey guys." She said.

"Hey Gabs," Chad said to her.

Taylor squealed, "You and Troy look SO cute!" She exclaimed.

Gabriella laughed, "Oh shut up Taylor." She laughed, then grabbed herself something to drink.

Chad and Zeke had a confused look on their faces. They didn't know Gabriella and Troy had something. Taylor looked at Chad and laughed knowing he was confused. "Why is he dancing with Audrey?"

"They're friends, he's not my boyfriend…I can't tell him what to do." Gabriella shrugged. She looked over to them and her gaze met Troy's. She smiled gently, wondering what in the world he was feeling towards her.

Troy looked at Gabriella, noticing how beautiful she looked tonight. He knew they were 'just friends' but what he felt towards her, he couldn't control. He just hoped Spring break was going to finally give him the confidence that he need to tell her how he felts and if sparks fly, maybe he'll get the girl. He knew one thing though…whatever happens in spring break stays in spring break.


	9. Spring Break

Troy had a fun time at the banquet that his dad threw. Every minute he got to spend with Gabriella was worth it. The only thing he wishes he could change was spending so much time with Audrey. It was only a day away that the gang would be heading down to Cancun, Mexico for their spring break. Troy and Gabriella really wanted to go to Cancun so they officially said it was Cancun.

"Hey man, what are you going to pack? Your whole closet or something? Chad asked Troy. He was watching Troy throw a whole lot of clothes with he knew that Troy probably wouldn't wear.

Troy shrugged, "Lots of shorts." Troy grabbed his suitcases.

Chad watched him, "man it sucks we're taken, there's gonna be a lot of girls."

Troy laughed, "I don't have a girlfriend." He reminded Chad.

"Audrey?"

"Is not my girlfriend." Troy finished his sentence.

Chad smiled and grabbed a basketball from the ground. "Do you think you and Gabriella will hook up?"

Troy glanced up at the sound of her name.

--

Gabriella faced Taylor and rolled her eyes. "No. He's my friend…"

Taylor rolled her eyes and laughed, "Right , a friend who you supposedly love yesterday and is now your friend."

Gabriella smirked, "It's complicated."

Sharpay was rummaging through Gabriella's bathing suit drawers. "Ooh, this one is cute you should bring this one as well." She threw a pink and white polka dotted bikini at Gabriella.

Gabriella grabbed the bathing suit and looked twice at the bathing suit and packed it into her suitcase. "Besides, he'll probably be with Audrey and them."

Sharpay looked at the two, "Aren't Audrey and Troy dating?"

"No, at least I don't think." She had finished packing. She hoped whatever Audrey and Troy were talking about that night of the banquet was friendly, but she knows Audrey wouldn't want to be more than a friend to Troy.

Taylor helped Gabriella with all her luggage, "I think you over packed."

Gabriella lifted her suitcase and grabbed the holding part of the bag and rolled it out of the house. She rolled her eyes at Taylor's comment, "No, you just under packed." She giggled, which Sharpay did too.

"So who's all in our group?" Sharpay asked, following behind the two. She had packed earlier and so did Taylor. They headed over here to help her and pick her up. Sharpay's brother Ryan was taking them to the airport before he goes to his little get away in Costa Rica.

Gabriella shrugged, "Varsity cheer squad, except for the sophomore and some juniors. The rest of the seniors and juniors on the team are going." She thought for a few more. "I'm pretty sure the basketball boys are going except the ones who are sophomores."

"Typical us." Sharpay giggled. Always when it was around this time, the basketball and cheer team would always hang out.

Taylor smirked, "I guarantee you there will be drama."

Gabriella put her stuff in Ryan's vehicle. "But of course, there always is." East High always had drama, no matter what. If you wanted to get away by going somewhere else, it would always follow you.

Sharpay got into the front seat and the girls got into the back.

Gabriella slipped on her seat belt and looked forward.

"Well you know what happens in spring break, stays in spring break." The girls laughed and went to the airport.

--

Troy laughed, "Chad you know that saying isn't true." He looked over at his friend.

Chad shrugged.

"I know I haven't been popular for that long, so take it easy on me during our break."

"Don't tell me that, tell the girls." Chad laughed. He sat on Troy's bed and waited for him to be finished. "Oh don't forget your phone charger," He unplugged it from the wall and handed it to Troy.

Troy nodded and rolled up the wire then placed it onto a spot that was safe for the phone charger to be. His room was so messy with all the clothes on the ground and on the chairs. He knew he shouldn't have waited to pack at the last minute.

Troy never knew what it was like to hang out with the cool crowd and this year he gets the taste of that life.

Troy finished packing and zipped up his luggage.

"So where is Zeke? He supposes to meet us here soon." Chad asked Troy.

He shrugged, "Call him." He went to go put his stuff in his dad's car. He walked back and sat on the stool. Troy's never been out of the country without his parents before. Usually he would take family trips, but that's about it. He was surprise his parents actually trusted him to go down to another country and have fun.

"Zeke will be here in five minutes, we have to hurry the girls are waiting at the airport." Chad closed his cell phone and sat on the stool next to Troy. This was Chad's third year going out of the country for spring break.

"What girls?" Troy asked.

"Taylor, Sharpay, and Gabriella are at the airport."

Troy smiled at the mention of her name. "Damn, he needs to hurry the hell up." He sighed, "Let's go out and wait."

"Let's go then." Chad told him, he was excited to meet up with those girls. Chad hopped off the stool and saw Zeke's brother's car in the driveway. "Zeke man is here."

Troy opened his fridge and grabbed bottled water before heading out to the car. "Dad hurry, take us to the airport." Troy called out to his dad who was playing basketball. He hopped into the front seat and buckled up.

Troy's dad Jack jogged to the car. "Hey Chad and Zeke." He got into the driver's seat and started the car. Troy never knew why his dad got the nicest car possible. They rarely ever drove it unless they were going somewhere very important. He knew there was no point of getting a nice car if you don't drive it often.

Zeke loaded his stuff into the car. "Hey coach."

"Aren't you guys happy you don't have basketball practice?" Jack asked the three boys. He turned to the freeway and drove.

"Yeah, it's about time to take a break." Troy looked out the window. It was about time he got out of this city.

Chad grinned, "This break is going to be so sick."

Zeke nodded in agreement and grinned, "Hell yeah…OW!"

Chad had nudged him right in the stomach.

"I mean heck yeah!" Zeke corrected himself. The seat belt was going on lock and it was making him mad. "What the hell…" He muttered while fussing with the seat belt.

All of them started laughing and soon enough they arrived at the airport. There were people walking towards all direction. The cars were packed on the un-load and load side. When Troy looked around it seemed like everyone was in a rush.

"Alright kids, have a safe and fun trip." Jack said to the boys. He got out of the car to help the boys' un-load their stuff. "Troy, call me when you get there." Even though he let them go, he still wanted Troy to call every other day to check in. His mom was always so worried about him and he made him promise her that he'd call every other day or else she'd come down and find him. He watched them walk and got back into the car and waved. He rolled up his window and drove off, letting the boys go.

"Let's go meet up with the girls." Zeke said, grabbing his bags.

Chad grabbed his belongings and began walking. "Spring break, here we come."

Troy gathered his luggage and grinned, "Let the fun begin."

--

"Ugh, where are the boys?" Sharpay asked impatiently. The girls were sitting on the chair. Sharpay was only impatient because she wanted to hang out with Zeke.

Taylor was a bit nervous to go on the airplane. She was kind of scared of heights. She was shifting in her seat, not saying a single word.

Gabriella knew Taylor was scared of heights, so she was going to sit next to her and comfort her. Gabriella on the other hand was use to travelling on airplanes since her mom and she always go from place to place for vacation. "They'll be here soon!"

Taylor was the first to notice Chad's hair. "They're here." Taylor said relieved. She jumped up and ran over to Chad.

Sharpay sighed, and smirked. "Finally."

It was about an hour until they would be boarding the plane.

Only Sharpay and Zeke had first class since Sharpay paid for it. She offered to pay for the others but they others didn't want to go first class.

Gabriella's seat was 23A and it was next to Taylors. Chad and Troy's were two rows back.

Gabriella saw Troy and smiled at him. She hadn't talked to him for a while. When she was near him, she waved. "Hey you."

Troy smiled when he saw Gabriella. "Hey Gabi." He already had left his luggage on the lifter.

Troy took a seat next to her. "Are you excited or what?"

"Of course, time to get away from here!" Gabriella laughed.

"Serious and away from basketball." Troy grinned, "And I'm sure you're psyched to get away from cheer practice."

Gabriella shrugged, "It's not practice, it's the girls…and they're still coming with us." She rolled her eyes.

Troy laughed, "It's gonna be fun."

Gabriella folded her legs, "Ah, I wonder how this is going to be; hopefully better than last year."

"Well, I wasn't popular last year, but this is going to be SO cool." He shrugged.

Gabriella turned to look at him, "Well this is what you've been missing out on."

Troy looked at his friend then back at Gabriella. "I'm looking forward to it."

Taylor, Chad, Zeke, and Sharpay went over to sit with them. "We three girls are going to room together by the way." Sharpay said to them.

Chad and Zeke frowned, "Aw, it's okay though. We three boys are rooming together too."

Chad smirked, "That sounds a bit gay."

Everyone burst into laughter and then it became quiet.

Gabriella was the first one to say something, "When we get there, after we leave our stuff at our hotel resort, let's hit the pool or the beach."

They nodded and waited for their plane to call them. The first call was happening already and they saw a lot of teenagers rushing to the door.

When the last call was being called, the group got up and headed onto the plane. Zeke and Sharpay headed their way to first class and the other four waited to be let on to the plane. Once they got on, Taylor and Gabriella went to their seat. Gabriella got settled down, but then Chad came over to her.

"Hey Gabs, is it okay if I sit with Taylor since she's you know…" He bent down to whisper to her, "Scared of heights."

Gabriella looked over at Taylor who looked scared out of her mind; she turned back to Chad and sighed. She knew she was going to have to sit with Troy. "Sure…" She said, then got up and traded places with him. When she moved back to see Troy, she smiled. "I guess I'm sitting with you." She sat next to him.

Troy laughed, "Okay, it's probably better for them to be together."

Gabriella seat belted her for lift off. "Probably, at least I don't have to keep her calm for a lot of hours." She was going to try to be comfortable around him like she use to be. They were best friends; they can have a comfortable conversation.

When the pilot told them to settle in and seat belt until they were in the air, Troy got him seat belted and the red light turned on. Soon enough they were lifting off. Gabriella leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.

"Scared?" Troy asked gently.

"Of course not. I go on the airplane a lot, remember?" She asked, opening her eyes to look at him.

Troy smiled at her and then later the red light turned off and they were heading to Cancun.

Gabriella grabbed the remote that was on the side and turned on the TV and watched it. She didn't know what to say to Troy. Troy was already watching a TV show anyways so they didn't talk much. Gabriella soon about half an hour later fell asleep and her head manage to move onto Troy's shoulder.

Troy looked down at her and smiled. He asked for the blanket and placed it on her then soon enough he fell asleep himself. His head rested on top of hers.

--

Two hours later, Gabriella woke up and felt something weighing on her head. She frowned, but then realizes it was Troy's head. She smiled to herself and moved gently, which caused him to move. "Sorry I didn't mean to wake you."

Troy looked down at her sleepily and smiled, "its okay." He said.

Gabriella gazed in his eyes for a while, unsure why she was doing this. For a minute, it felt like they were going to kiss any second. They were that close. Up until Troy said something to ruin the moment, "I gotta pee."

Gabriella rolled her eyes but smiled, "Too much information, buddy." She laughed, letting him move past her. Gabriella sighed, and hit herself in the head. _What the hell was I doing?_ She asked herself.

Troy headed to the bathroom and sighed to himself, looking in the mirror. _What the hell is wrong with me? Why didn't I kiss her? I have before; I know what it felt like. I guess I'm just scared to get rejected…again._ He sighed and washed his face with water.

Gabriella was sitting on the plane, with a lot of students that were probably going to Cancun as well. The people from East High were coming down tonight at a later time. The people she saw were from different schools. Some were from West High, she could tell by their sweat shirts. She was about to put her headphones to watch TV back on, this tall boy came over to her.

"Excuse me miss." The boy said to her.

Gabriella turned her head and noticed a student. She read his shirt and it said West High Knight Basketball. "Can I help you?" She asked nicely.

"Aren't you Gabriella Montez from East High?" He asked her.

"Yes I am, and you are?"

"Jake. Jake Bryce." The boy said, extending his hand towards hers.

She took his hand and shook it, but he took it and kissed it.

At that time, Troy had exited the bathroom and saw this. His eyebrow narrowed and he glared at the boy. "what the hell?" he muttered to himself.

Gabriella smiled gently and placed her hand back down on her hand.

"Are you sitting in this row by yourself?" Jake asked her.

"Actually no, I'm waiting for someone to come back from the bathroom." Gabriella said, pointing to the bathroom then looked back at him.

"Oh…boyfriend?" Jake asked sadly.

"No, a best friend." She nodded at him.

Jake smiled brightly when she said that, "So I am assuming you are going to Cancun?" He asked, leaning on the seat.

"Yes I am." She smiled happily, "I'm so excited. What about you?"

"Hell yeah, I've been looking forward to this all year!" He laughed.

Gabriella giggled gently.

Troy was still standing, smirking and glaring at this boy.

"Well what hotel are you staying at?" he asked.

"The Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach Resort Hotel in Cancun." Gabriella smiled. Gabriella's mom and Sharpay's mom paid for the two rooms.

"Sweet, we're staying at the hotel next to yours; The Maroma Resort." He said, "My friends are staying at the hotel you are though so we'd probably see you."

Troy finally decided to walk over and saw the guy with the West High on his t-shirt. He smirked at the rival. "Can I help you?" Troy asked with a bit of a rude tone.

Jake looked at Troy and smirked, "Troy Bolton." He said to him. "Ah, good job on the court."

Troy looked at Jake's face and noticed him, "Hm. Thanks."

"Isn't it funny how you decide to join this year? What happened?" Jake asked, smirking.

"Um yeah, can you leave now?" He asked, rudely

"Troy..!" Gabriella whispered.

Jake looked at Gabriella then back at Troy, "It's cool, I'm gonna head back to my spot anyways, see you in Cancun Gabriella. I'm looking forward to hanging out sometimes if we run into each other." He smiled and winked at her then he left.

She waved and let Troy sit back down. "What was that all about?"

"I don't like that guy; he's always been so cocky." Troy smirked.

"Reminds me of someone." Gabriella said under her breath but Troy didn't hear. "Be nice." She said to him.

Troy smirked, "I really hope we don't run into him." He said, shaking his head. Troy was glad that they were staying in the same hotel; Gabriella and Troy that is.

"He's staying at the hotel next to ours." Gabriella told him, wondering why he was acting like this all the time when she's talking to a guy. Every time this happens, he always hates the boy she talks to.

"I'm glad to have my best friend on this trip." Gabriella said to him smiling.

Troy finally manage to give a small smile and nodded, "Me too." Troy was acting like that because he got jealous a lot…since he was in love with Gabriella and all. He supposes he could get use to it…_What am I thinking? No she can't hang out with him!_ He told himself. Troy put on his head phones and watched a movie until they landed.

--

Finally it was time for them to get off the plane. When Gabriella and Troy finally got off, they greeted the others. Troy's hair was messy and so was Gabriella's, probably from sleeping.

"What happened to you two? Looks like you two have sex hair." Chad joked, which made the others laugh.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Ha Ha." She said sarcastically. They went to grab their luggage and out to the front to take a car back to their resort hotel. The sun was shining on Gabriella's eyes so she put on her big pair of sunglasses, so did the other girls.

Troy was walking with Chad and saw a lot of people at the airport. "Guess who I ran into on the airplane that was flirting with Gabriella."

"Who?" Chad asked. He grabbed his stuff off the luggage lifter. The sun was beaming through the window, making the inside of the airport really bright. Chad grabbed his aviator shades and placed them on, so did Troy.

Troy waited for the lifter to keep on rolling until he found his stuff. "Jake Bryce."

"No way? As in basketball legend dude guy?" Chad asked. Chad always envied Jake because Jake had a legacy how his family always was a true player for basketball. When their brother graduated they always got drafted and sent to the NBA. Chad's favorite player was Jake's brother Michael Bryce.

Troy rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yeah him." He left the airport with the people. The girls were way ahead and Zeke and Sharpay were way behind.

Gabriella set her stuff onto the car and was talking with Taylor. "Jake Bryce was flirting with me on the airplane." She laughed.

"As in _the_ Jake Bryce?" Taylor exclaimed, "He's such a cutie." Taylor said dreamily, but she made sure Chad didn't hear.

Gabriella shrugged, "I guess as in _the_ Jake Bryce." She smiled, "he's pretty cute, but I don't know."

"What about Troy?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella sighed and then shrugged again, "I don't know…he seems like he's not interested in me." She frowned, "because when I told him I was in love with him, he didn't do anything back."

"True…" Taylor stopped talking when the boys came over to them. Gabriella smiled at Troy then got into the car and waited for them to get in so they could go to the hotel.

The drive was about twenty minutes from the airport, once they got off the plane they went in and got their keys and headed up to the room. The boys' room was four doors down from theirs. They couldn't get it next to each other since they didn't book it fast enough. They were on the sixth floor though which was pretty cool since it was a good view.

"Meet up with us in ten minutes by the pool." Sharpay told them then the girls went into their suite and unpacked. Sharpay decided to get the smallest bed since she probably wasn't going to be sleeping much.

Gabriella got the big bed in the own room and Taylor was next to Sharpay's. Gabriella opened her suitcase and grabbed her pink with silver diamonds on them bikini and changed into it. She grabbed a towel and waited for the others. Taylor was wearing a navy blue bikini and Sharpay was wearing a white bikini.

"Let's go!" This was officially the beginning of their break. When they got down there, Gabriella saw the boys sitting by the pool. She saw Troy shirtless and noticed he was actually working out more…since he was starting to have more packs. "Hey guys." She said.

Troy turned and saw Gabriella in a bikini. He swallowed hard and jumped into the pool so Gabriella wouldn't notice how he got a bit excited and happy. Troy looked up at her and blushed a bit hoping she didn't notice his little encounter.

The rest of them jumped in after him and they were having drinks and having fun. They played chicken, Gabriella was on Troy's shoulder and was up against Taylor and Chad.

Troy dunked Gabriella and messed around with her. Sharpay and Zeke were under the cover so they wouldn't be burnt by the sun.

Gabriella swam around for a bit until she was stopped by this guy, "Oh Jake! I didn't expect to see you this soon."

Jake shrugged, "Thought it would be nice to come to this hotel." He smiled, "It's a coincidence I ran into you." He jumped into the pool.

Chad swam next to Troy and smirked, "Guess who just landed on our hotel."

Troy looked and saw Jake, "What the fuck is he doing here?"

"Trying to take over Gabriella." Chad said, and then was pulled away by Taylor.

Troy looked and saw him flirting with her…again. He was getting tired of this. "Not if I can help it he's not going to take her." Troy said and swam over to them.

**A/N: I'm SO sorry I haven't updated any of my stories lately…I've been busy and all. I'm trying to squeeze another chapter and I manage to do so. My life is pretty busy but I'll update at least twice a week. One for every story I'm writing. ****Which I'm only writing two, so you won't see another chapter probably until…Sunday or Monday.****Maybe sooner if you're lucky ****heh**** I'll try to update when I can.**


	10. Late Night

Troy swam over to her, slowly going through the warm water. When he was about to reach the two, Chad grabbed his arm and stopped him. "What are you doing man?" He looked over at Jake then back at Troy. The sun was blazing hot and all that was on each and everyone's mind was jumping into the pool and having some R&R time.

"He's not supposed to be here." Troy grabbed his arm away.

"It's a free country…he can be here as long as his friend is." Chad stood in the way of Troy.

Troy watched the guy then looked back at Chad, "Well, he better not try anything on Gabriella…or else." Troy clenched his fist. He has never once got this angry before, usually he never settled for violence but this was all new to him. Being in this new life was all different.

Chad raised his eyebrow, "Why do you care so much? You have feelings for Gabriella don't you?" This was all making sense to Chad now.

Troy's head rapidly turned away and his face was flushing red. "No, she's just my best friend and I don't want any West High Knight to like her."

"Uh huh…right." Chad smirked, "Don't do anything stupid to make us get kicked out." With that, Chad swam away over to Taylor.

Gabriella had a big smile on her face as she was talking with Jake. "So what are you guys doing later tonight?" She asked him. It was their first night in Cancun and so far none of the gang has talked about what they were doing tonight.

Jake lay back against the side and lifted his arm so they were up. "Hm, we're not sure but you guys should come hang out with us or something." He moved his head to the side in a fast motion so his hair went to the side.

She looked back at the crew who were relaxing and having fun. She smiled, "Yeah that sounds cool. We should go to the club or something…" She shrugged.

Jake face lit up, "nice…I like a girl that knows how to have fun." He grinned.

Gabriella giggled softly and ran her hand through her wet damped hair. _Jake's a nice guy, I hope he doesn't turn out to be one of those sleaze boys, he seems sweet. I don't care if he's from our rival school. But who knows, anything can happen over spring break._ She smiled to herself.

"Gabriella Montez! Get your butt over here so we can go tanning!" Sharpay's voice over voiced her thoughts.

Gabriella turned to look at Sharpay who was waving her over. She looked back at Jake and smiled gently, "I'm sorry, but if she doesn't get her way then we'll see the bad side." She laughed.

Jake chuckled slightly, "Alright, its cool. I'll see you tonight."

She turned and swam away but she stopped and looked at him, "call me?" She asked.

He nodded, "Sure, number?"

"Oh crap, I can't give it to you in the pool you might forget." She laughed.

"I have good memory." He nodded once.

She smiled and told him her number then she waved and swam away. She swam past Chad, Zeke, and Troy who were having drinks. She smiled at Troy, but didn't get the same reaction back. She didn't know what was wrong with him. She got out of the pool and sat next to Sharpay in the tanning chair. She was still smiling.

"Why are you so happy?" Sharpay asked, putting on her expensive sunglasses. "Don't tell me it's about Jake Bryce."

Gabriella laughed, "Oh, no. By the way we're going to the club tonight."

Sharpay shrugged, "Okay that's cool."

Troy looked over at the smiling Gabriella then sighed. This wasn't the break he expected. He expected for him and Gabriella to have time together at break so he could tell her how he actually really felt.

Around an hour later, everyone went back to their rooms. They all got ready to go out and have fun. Gabriella roamed through her suitcase to find something decent she could dance in. She eventually found something to wear and got dressed into it. She loosed curled her hair and applied few make up on. She looked herself in the mirror once more then walked to grab her cell phone. No one knew but she was actually waiting for Jake to call.

--

"Troy come on, if you don't hurry the girls are going to leave without us." Chad told him while adjusting his shirt.

Troy was still lying on the bed watching TV. "Where are we heading to?" He asked dully.

"The club." Zeke answered while doing his buttons. "Now get your ass up and hurry and let's bounce." Zeke smirked. He wanted to go and dance.

Troy got out of bed and hopped into the shower and five minutes later got dressed. He blow dried his hair and slipped his shoes on.

The girls were waiting in the lobby for the boys.

Taylor looked at Chad and grinned. "Boy you're looking fine!" She hugged her boyfriend.

Zeke noticed Sharpay and smiled, "Damn." He wrapped his arm around her.

Gabriella and Troy looked at each other and smiled. Troy walked over to her, about to say something when her phone rang. She smiled brightly and answered it. "Hey!"

Troy smirked, his eye narrowing a bit. He had a feeling knowing who it was. About two minutes later Gabriella went back over to them and smiled. "Jake and his people are at the Cicero Club." She smiled.

Troy looked at Chad and smirked. "Jake is going?" He asked.

She nodded, "me and him planned it earlier; now let's go in the cab before we're late!" She grabbed troy's arm and ran into the car with everyone else. Troy sat quietly as everyone was talking. Gabriella noticed how quiet he was.

"Hey are you okay?"

Troy looked over at her, "huh? Oh…yeah I'm cool." He put a smile on. He couldn't believe that Jake was going to be there. Out of all people, he would rather have Nate here.

They arrived at the club and everyone got out. Gabriella was greeted by Jake.

"Troy! It's nice to run into you again." Jake's grin grew wider.

Troy nodded once and walked into the club. Maybe he could have fun himself and find a girl. If he knew how to approach a girl, usually the girls would approach him.

"C'mon Gabriella, let's go inside and dance." Jake told her, putting his hand on her back and led her into the dance room.

Chad walked over to Troy and shrugged, "Better step up your game if you want her." He walked into the club with Taylor.

Troy stood outside for a moment, looking around. This was going to be a long night for him. He walked into the club after a few minutes and saw all the light and loud music on. He pushed through people grinding on each other and headed over to the seating area.

--

Gabriella walked onto the dance floor with Jake and began dancing with him. She was having fun and laughing with him. After about four songs they went to get a drink.

"I'm having fun tonight…" Jake spoke loudly over the music.

"Me too!" She yelled back over the music.

Jake gave her the glass of water and smiled, "You want to go take a walk or something?"

She nodded and stood up, walking out with him. She saw Troy sitting from the corner of her eyes. She sighed to herself. _Maybe it's best for me to move on…if he doesn't see me more than a friend then I should stop trying_.

--

Troy watched Gabriella walk away with Jake. He clenched his fist and closed his eyes. He couldn't take this anymore.

"Excuse me; is anyone sitting next to you?"

Troy opened his eyes and saw a brunette girl about his age speak to him. "Uh, no." He said nervously.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

She sat next to him and smiled gently, "I'm Clarisse." She said loudly over the music.

"Troy." He said back to her.

She smiled, "Pleasure to meet you Troy, are you on spring break?" She asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, first night." He grinned.

"Well let's celebrate, you want to dance?" She asked him.

"Oh I'm not much of a dancer…"

"Come on." She grabbed his hand and took him to the dance floor.

--

Jake and Gabriella managed to get outside. They walked side by side. "Man it's so hot in there!" Jake said, wiping his head.

She laughed, "Yeah it is." It was a beautiful night; the moon was shining over them. The sky was clear and there were so many stars shining. Gabriella was having a fun night so far, Troy was at the back of her mind at the moment but for now she was enjoying time with Jake.

"It's funny how we met on an airplane, and started to hang out…but it's a good thing." He smiled at her.

She smiled, "Yeah I know huh, how you knew me anyways?"

He shrugged, "Basketball games, you cheering…you know." He smiled. He hopped up and touched the ceiling when walking.

She nodded, "oh." She said brightly.

The two continued to walk for a while then took a full circle and Jake sighed. "We should go in before your friends wonder where you are."

She nodded and walked back into the club with Jake. As always, it was loud and crowded. Gabriella looked around for her friends wondering where they were…mostly wondering if Troy was okay. She glanced around and saw Troy dancing with some girl. She stopped for a minute then eventually told herself to move on.

Troy continued to learn how to dance with Clarisse. She was an experienced dancer but he wasn't. They dance for a song or two then he stopped and walked with her back to where they were sitting. He had a glance around the room and saw Jake and Gabriella on the side talking. He sighed, and then turned his attention back to her. "So are you on vacation too?"

"No, I live here in Cancun." She smiled. "It's spring break for me though…I thought I'd stay here because of all the people and schools coming here for vacation."

Troy nodded, "That's cool, and I'd do that same thing too."

"Well what hotel are you staying at?"

"The resort a few blocks away." Troy answered her.

Chad came over and walked next to Troy. He was sweating from the heat, "come on we're leaving."

Troy nodded and stood up, "Well it's nice to meet you Clarisse, hopefully I'll see you later." He shrugged.

"Yeah most definitely, I'll stop by." She smiled then waved to him.

Troy walked out of the club with Chad and met up with Taylor, Zeke, and Sharpay. "Where's Gabi?" Troy asked Chad.

Chad pointed to over where Jake and Gabriella were talking.

Troy's eyebrow narrowed and he looked over at Chad.

Chad shrugged and watched them.

"Well I had fun tonight; we should do it again…" Gabriella said to Jake.

Jake nodded, "Dinner tomorrow?"

She nodded, "Sure." She hugged him good-bye and walked back to the car.

Troy shook his head out of jealousy and went into the car. "God I hate that kid." He muttered under his own breath to himself.

Gabriella sat next to Troy and smiled, "Hey I didn't see you all night! Did you have fun?" She asked, with a bright smile on her face. Though she lied about not seeing him for the night, she saw him with the girl when she walked in the club.

He smiled, "Yeah I did…did you have fun?" he asked her.

"Yeah, great time." She told him, and then it was an awkward silence until Chad began talking about how his first night was.

Gabriella stared out the window and stayed quiet until they reached the hotel. Gabriella walked back to the room by herself and Troy was trailing behind her somewhere.

Chad caught up to Troy and stopped him, "Dude you better tell Gabriella how you feel before Jake closes in on her." He said, looking back at Gabriella who was fumbling with finding the card key.

"I don't know…it seems like she's really into that guy." He said, shrugging. "Besides, I lost my chance…so it's whatever."

"It's not whatever, how you feel about her is not whatever Troy…you were supposedly her best friend…you like her so go for it."

Troy was being stubborn. "Maybe this is how it's supposed to be; maybe I'm just supposed to stay best friends with her…nothing more." He pulled away from Chad.

Chad sighed, "Don't say I didn't try…" He said then walked away. Troy turned to slide the card key when Gabriella called his name.

"Troy!"

He turned to look at her.

"Want to go for some midnight ice cream?" She asked him, "like old times."

He smiled, "Sure."

"Kay, see you in a bit." She walked into the room. _Maybe I can try and be his friend again…maybe I'll get over him and remain his best friend…this is what he wants anyways. He can have any girl he wants and he doesn't see anything more in me then a best friend_. She told herself that before getting changed.

Taylor and Sharpay came into the room after having some moment with their boyfriends out in the hall. "Well tonight was successful don't you think?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah. It was fun." She took off her earrings.

Sharpay collapsed on the bed and smiled, "Zeke and I had fun dancing." Taylor nodded in agreement about her and Chad.

Gabriella tied her hair up in a messy bun and smiled, "That's good." Gabriella grabbed a pair of jeans a simple t-shirt.

"Where are you going? Out with Jake?" Taylor asked in a bright tone.

Gabriella laughed, "No I'm grabbing some ice cream with Troy." She took off her before shirt and slipped into the t-shirt.

"Oh, fun…are you going to ask him how he feels about you?" Sharpay asked her. This is what the girls always do, gossip about everything.

She stopped in silence for a moment and shook her head, "No…I think I see it clearly how he feels." She said, and grabbed the card keys. "I'll see you guys later." She left the room and knocked on the boys' door.

Troy answered and smiled, "Hey." He said then closed the door behind him and walked with her down to the lobby and out to the nearest open shop.

It was still warm at night so a walk on the beach was going to be fun.

Troy was the first one to speak up, "So you and Jake huh?"

Gabriella laughed, and shrugged. "I don't know…" She smiled gently. She was smiling like how little kids use to when they saw something they really liked.

Troy frowned but didn't show her, "this guy is bad news Gabi…"

She turned her head to face him. She raised her eyebrow, "You say that about every guy Troy."

He sighed, "But this one I'm sure about…I have a bad feeling about him."

She rolled her eyes, "Can't you be happy for me troy? You're my best friend and you're supposed to be happy for me!" She groaned.

He shrugged, "I would if this guy is right for you but I'm a hundred percent sure."

"Troy be my best friend and just be happy."

He sighed, "With this guy I can't be happy for you, and I don't like him."

"You don't even know him!" Gabriella was getting mad with him now.

"I don't even know why you're getting mad at me."

"Because you're being stupid!" Gabriella stopped walking now and was facing him.

"I am not! I'm being a good friend and I'm helping you out here!" Troy snapped back at her. "And if you're starting to really like him then I'm not going to stand here and watch you get hurt by him."

Gabriella sighed, "I'm not even dating him Troy…"

"He's a player Gabi, if you knew his background you'd realize it…you're being deceived by him."

"What are you talking about?"

"I may not know this guy but I can tell Gabi. I guarantee you." Troy looked at her straight in the eyes.

"Don't assume Troy." She answered quietly.

If you want to be with someone who will hurt you, then that's one hundred percent your business…but you know I just thought you'd be smart enough to know you deserve better" Troy looked at her.

Gabriella stayed quiet for a moment, looking at the ground. She didn't believe he was a bad guy.

Troy continued to try to keep eye contact with her. He knew he was right but he knew that Gabriella wouldn't believe him; no matter how hard he tried she was going to find a way that he was wrong. All he needed to do was prove to her that he is. He needed to catch him in action…or figure out a way for her to see him.

Gabriella finally looked up and crossed her arm.

"Well are you going to say anything to me?" He asked her. "You know I'm right huh…you just don't want to believe who he is."

"You don't know him." She said quietly once again.

Troy sighed, "This is how his family is. The legacy they have. It all makes sense, he just needed to get it through Gabriella's head.

"I don't get why you're like this…why you can't accept who I like?!"

"BECAUSE!"

"Because why Troy?"

Troy looked to the ground. "Because he's not the only one who has feelings for you."

Gabriella was slightly confused, "who else has feelings for me?" She asked, making him look at her.

Troy wasn't quick to answer that question.

"Well…? Answer me Troy."

"I do." He finally answered.

**Sorry it's a short chapter…Review please!**


	11. Choices

"I do." Those words were running through Gabriella's mind for what feels like forever. She wasn't sure if she heard it right or if it was even said at all. She stood there, looking at Troy. Not even one word came out of either of their mouths for the longest time. She waited for Troy to say something. Or she was waiting for herself to say something, anything at all. For the longest time she's been wanting this, them together…but she found a great guy that she could potentially date. Even though she just met Jake, he's been nothing but nice to her. Here Gabriella was standing before her best friend finding out that he had feelings for her. She didn't know how long he develop those feelings but finding out now…during spring break. It was all too much for her. She didn't know what to do. One thing for sure is she didn't want to mess up the friendship she had with Troy.

"Gabriella…say something." Troy finally spoke up after the biggest awkward moment of silence. The sounds of the ocean waves were slowly making noises in the background. The beach was completely empty and all that stood on this beach was Gabriella and Troy.

Gabriella looked up to him and finally found some words to put together, "Troy…why are you telling me this now?"

Troy looked to the ground then back at her and shrugged, "I don't know…I guess I…" He didn't know what to say.

Now Gabriella was forced left to figure out what she wanted…to try to start something with Jake or to start a relationship with her best friend. She wasn't sure what she was ready for, she didn't know who she wanted…where her heart belonged. "I'm sorry…but it's too late."

"What do you mean it's too late?" Troy asked, placing a hand on her arm. "It's not too late, yes I know I should've told you earlier…but I didn't know what was wrong with me."

Gabriella shrugged his hand off and sighed, "You've waited too long…and I don't want to mess up our friendship." She began to say.

"So you're saying you want to try this out with Jake if it's going to happen?" He asked her.

She nodded gently.

"Alright, cool…whatever." He walked away.

"Troy, don't walk away please." She said after him, pleading a bit.

Troy ignored her and continued walking. He couldn't believe it. When he finally manage to grow up and tell her how he felt. He was shut down. "This was a mistake." He muttered to himself. He walked back to the hotel by himself, leaving Gabriella back at the beach.

Gabriella watched him disappear into the distance. She was so confused and hurt. She didn't know what to do, she's been waiting for this with Troy…but she wasn't sure Troy was saying this only because he didn't want her with Jake. Jake was a nice guy and she really enjoys his company. She sat on the beach alone, it was a bit scary but she was safe. All she wanted was some ice cream and some quality time with her best friend. Instead she got into an argument with him and found something out that could hurt their friendship. Gabriella pulled out her cell phone.

"Hello?...Hey, look I'm sorry…can you meet me on the beach? Alright…see you in a few." She hung up her cell phone and stared into space. After ten minutes or so, the figure appeared on the beach. She smiled gently and stood up, walking over to him.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Jake asked, giving her a hello hug.

Gabriella sighed, "Nothing just got into an argument with my best friend." She shrugged. She sat down with Jake and sighed. "Thanks for coming down." She told him.

He smiled, "no problem, I was hoping you wanted to hang out." He told her.

Gabriella's smile lit up. Even though she just met Jake, it feels like she's close to him. She lifted up her knees and hugged them.

Jake leaned back on his hands and sighed, "You want to talk about it?" he asked her.

She turned her head and smiled gently. She shook her head though, "Nah, its okay I don't want to get you involved." Jake was involved with them though. "Let's just sit here and relax…okay?"

He nodded, "Fine with me." He sat with her and stared out into the ocean in the night.

--

Troy reached the front of the resort hotel and sighed. Maybe he was being too harsh. He should have left her alone on the beach especially at a time like this. If something was to happen to her then he'd never forgive himself. He looked back and reached for his cell phone. It was dead though, he sighed. "Crap I still have to call my parents." He mumbled to himself. He walked back to the beach to try and find Gabriella. Troy walked down the streets seeing many people still up and probably partying the night away. He hopped over the wall and looked around on the beach. Troy walked down the path that Gabriella and he both walked through. Once he looked up, he saw Gabriella sitting on the beach…with Jake. He stopped in his step and sighed. He knew he should've never left her side. He watched them for a moment, then walked backwards a feel steps and turned walking away. This break wasn't the one he expected. He wanted something better. Something where he and Gabriella had time to spend a lot of time together if they wanted to.

"Excuse me, you're in my way."

He mumbled, "Sorry." He moved to the side.

"You're still in my way."

He smirked, still looking at the ground. "Sorry my fault." He moved again further.

"Ahem, you're still in my way…again."

He sighed, "I'M AS FAR AS POSSIBLE DAMNIT!" He turned around to see who this person was. He saw the girl who he met at the club. "Clarisse, oh hi, I didn't even recognize your voice."

She smiled, "It's okay and I'm joking about the moving thing." She laughed, "I noticed your figure from behind."

"What are you doing out here so late?" Troy asked her.

She shrugged, "Just taking a stroll on the street…care to join me? If you're not busy that is." She told him, smiling. "I usually take a walk home before I go home."

He didn't have anything better to do since his time with Gabriella ended. "Sure." He began walking with her.

Clarisse slipped her hands into the coat pocket. "So what are you doing out here this late? Partying I suppose?"

Troy shook his head, "nah, just took a walk with a friend."

"Oh…where is your friend?" She asked him.

"She is still at the beach with a boy name Jake Bryce." Troy said in a dull and bitter voice.

Clarisse turned to face him. "Bryce? You mean as in one of those famous Bryce's?" She asked in a surprised voice.

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah…something like that." He was sick of hearing how great Jake's family was. He could care less about them. Most of all, Jake.

"You know, you don't seem like one of those party boys…even more you don't look like a guy who fits the cool image." She smiled, "No offense."

"None taken." He smiled, "actually, a month or so ago I use to be a guy who was a geeky art kid." He told her, "but my best friend transformed me and I turned into a guy who everyone loves." He shrugged. Part of him regretted doing it but part of him really likes it.

"Really?"

He nodded, "yeah…shocking huh?" he grinned.

Clarisse laughed and nodded, "In a way." She smiled. They walked until they reached the resort. "Well here's your stop." She smiled.

"You'll be okay walking home?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I'll be fine, thanks for walking with me…Troy." She told him.

"No problem." He smiled then waved to her.

--

Around 1 AM, Gabriella stood up and left the beach with Jake. Jake walked her back to the hotel room. She smiled gently, "Thanks for staying out with me." She told him when she got to the door of the hotel.

He shrugged, "it was fun while it lasted." He smiled, "But we're still on for tomorrow right?" He asked her, reminding her about dinner.

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah." She hugged him and walked back inside. She got into the elevator and headed up to their floor. She went to her door and slid the card then opened up the door and walked in. The two girls were passed out asleep already. Gabriella laughed gently and went into the bathroom to wash her face. She dried it then walked into her room and lay in her bed. So many things were running through her head. Most about what Troy said to her but especially how tomorrow was going to be with Jake. Eventually Gabriella fell asleep and drifted off into a dreamless night.

--

"GET UP! Let's hit the pool!" Chad woke up Troy.

Troy mumbled something and threw a pillow at Chad, "Shut up, I'm tired…" he groaned, then rolled on his stomach.

Chad smirked, "long night with Gabriella eh?" he grabbed a pair of shorts and a towel. He tied his hair back so it wouldn't be huge.

Zeke sat on the bed, looking through his suitcase for a pair of shorts as well.

Troy opened his eyes, but didn't say anything. _Not exactly_. He told himself. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I'm up." He yawned, stretching. It was a sunny day outside and he liked it. "What are we doing tonight? I kind of don't want to hang out with the girls."

"Well um, more people are flying in today so we'll hang out with them and you can hang out with Audrey." Chad said, unsure why Troy didn't want to hang out with the girls today. He wasn't sure what went down with him and Gabriella but he was bound to find out.

Troy rolled his eyes at the name of Audrey, "ugh I don't want to hang out with her." He smirked. "Let's go to a beach party." He said to Chad He rolled out of bed and got into the bathroom to clean up. He found a pair of shorts and a towel. He grabbed the card key and headed down to the pool with the guys.

"Well, you're going to have to face her one way or another…since she's staying at this resort too." Zeke reminded.

Troy shrugged and jumped into the pool.

--

The girls got into their new bathing suits and headed down to the pool. Gabriella grabbed her sunglasses and her towel and walked down with the girls. "I'm so tired." She yawned gently.

Taylor smiled. "What did you and Mr. Troy do?" She asked, nudging Gabriella playfully.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "We got into an argument so I hung out with Jake…" Her voice drifted off.

Sharpay gasped, "YOU WHAT!" She asked, standing in front of Gabriella. She wasn't going to move until Gabriella explained.

"It's a long story…I'll tell you guys by the pool." They headed down to the elevator.

"You better." Sharpay said to Gabriella. The three girls headed to the pool and noticed it was crowded already. "So everyone else is coming down today…Nate and Audrey."

Gabriella shrugged, "I can careless about those two."

"And Colin." Taylor added.

Gabriella remembered that Colin had a crush on her but she told him that they would be friends and only friends. She set her stuff down by her tanning chair and noticed the boys were in the pool. She canned around and saw Troy. Her heart both fluttered and leap, she didn't know why.

Taylor smiled, "My boyfriend is here! I'm surprised he's awake!" She laughed, setting her stuff on her tanning chair and walked over to Chad.

Sharpay laid down on her tanning bed, "My boyfriend can come to me." She slipped her sunglasses on her face.

The sun was directly hitting the pool so the water must be warm because the humidity is super hot. Gabriella applied tanning lotion on and then tied her hair up in a messy bun. She didn't want to make eye contact with Troy, at all.

Zeke swam over to Troy and nudged him, "look." He said, pointing at Gabriella.

Troy smirked, "Well thanks for pointing out the obvious." He said then dipped under water and came back up. "It's too awkward to talk to her so I'm not going to."

"Stop being a chicken ass and go talk to her." Zeke got out of the pool and sat next to Sharpay.

Troy sighed. _Maybe I'm overreacting or maybe I should've never said anything. I should tell her that we should be only friends and everything and I respect that she likes Jake. Wait…what am I thinking, she doesn't belong with Jake. She belongs with me!_ Without realizing it, Troy was completely staring at Gabriella.

_What is he looking at?_ Gabriella asked herself. She sat down and grabbed her iPhone. She had one unread text message. She opened it and smiled brightly.

_Hey looking forward to tonight._

Gabriella replied:

_Me__ too, see you soon._

_Xoxo-Gabriella._

She clicked send and laid back on her chair.

Up for a while, she was enjoying the sun blazing on her. She loved the warmth and the sun was shining directly on her body. Then a shadow appeared over her and covered up her sun. She opened her eyes and saw Troy standing there. "Um." She sat up gently.

Troy looked down at her; he just had to tell her what he wanted to say all along. "can I talk to you?"

She shrugged, "I guess so." She sat up and made room for him to sit.

He sat down and sighed, "Look I'm sorry for yelling at you yesterday, but I don't take back anything I said."

Gabriella blinked, and then looked to the ground. She was unsure what to say.

"You shouldn't be with Jake." He told her out of the blue.

She looked at him, this caught her attention. "Why not?" She asked with a curious tone.

"Because, you deserve better than him."

She rolled her eyes, "I should've known…"

"Gabriella, I'm fucking in love with you. Why can't you understand that and realize that we fucking belong together?" He shouted. It just all came across him, he didn't mean to yell or say what he was saying but it was the truth. It was just in the moment for him, she was being stubborn so he had to do something.

Gabriella was shocked by his tone and more important; what he said. She stared at him for the longest moment. She knew other people heard because they were staring. She noticed her friends were staring in complete shock. Now, she was officially confused.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell." Troy's voice lowered. Now he was waiting for her response.

"Troy, I…I" She was cut off by the tone of none other than Jake.

"Gabriella!" Jake waved at her.

Gabriella turned to see Jake. She smiled gently then looked back at Troy, "I…"

"Gotta go." He shook his head when he saw Jake and got up, leaving.

"Troy wait!" She yelled at him, but he didn't look back or stop.

Jake walked back over to Gabriella and smiled, "Hey what's up?" he asked, taking a seat where Troy sat.

Gabriella smiled gently, "Nothing, just some R & R by the pool."

Taylor and Chad watched as the commotion all happened. "Poor guy…" Taylor said.

Chad sighed, "I gotta go after him." He said, "I'll be back." He kissed her cheek and left the pool and went after him.

Sharpay was next to them so she was shock to hear all of this. She wanted to say something but she didn't want to ruin the moment. She turned to Zeke, "Yikes…" She said to him.

Zeke nodded and looked at Jake, "hey man."

Jake nodded at Zeke and looked back at Gabriella, "was that Troy Bolton you were yelling at?"

Gabriella gave a fainted smile, "we just had a talk…that's all." She told him, lying to him of course.

She sighed and nodded, "yeah he's my best friend." She couldn't make up her mind, either she was going to follow her heart or follow her mind. It was up to time to tell which she wanted.

Jake leaned back a little and slipped his sunglasses on. "It's a nice day huh?" He asked, giving her his infamous smile.

For some reason, when she was with Jake it made her forget about all her worries, but as much as it did it never got Troy out of her mind, ever. "Yeah I agree." She said gently, smiling back at him.

"Gabriella are you okay?" Jake asked, sitting up. He knew something was wrong with her because her mood seemed different today.

She smiled, "I'm fine."

Jake rubbed the back of his own neck slightly, "Well I can leave if you want me to, I can see you later or something." Jake said, pointing to the direction he came in from.

Gabriella smiled gently, "No it's okay, and you can stay here." She shrugged.

--

Chad met Troy in their hotel room. "Hey man, what are you doing?" Chad asked when he walked in. Troy was sitting packing all his stuff together.

"I'm leaving." Troy simply said while throwing his clothes in.

Chad sighed, "Why? Don't tell me it's because of Gabs." Chad sat on the bed.

"I'm so sick and tired of this, if she's not going to listen or believe me then I'm going to stop trying and forget about her." Troy said. He picked up his stuff from his drawers and threw it in.

"You're being a little over dramatic, don't you think?" Chad asked, rolling his eyes. "Look Troy. This is spring break, forget about all the drama and Gabs…have fun." Live it up." Chad told him. "Don't let a girl ruin your fun, there are so many girls out there for you, and you're a new guy Troy. You can be whoever you want to be." Chad was trying to make a point to him.

Troy stopped packing for a moment.

Chad grinned knowing this was getting to him. "Show Gabriella what she's missing. She changed you into someone cool and now show her what has to be done."

Troy thought for a moment. Chad had a point and Troy was actually getting what Chad was saying. A part of Troy wished he could turn back time and stick to being that guy that was behind in the shadow. Now he was stuck in all this drama. After a few minutes, Troy unpacked and smiled.

"That's my boy." Chad said, "See you down by the pool." Chad left.

--

"So um, I'll meet up with you tonight for dinner? Sounds good?" Jake asked her before getting his stuff to leave the hotel pool.

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah I'll call you tonight." She told him and hugged him goodbye. She went back over to her friends and blew her bangs out of her face. "Well this is some awkward day."

Taylor looked at Gabriella, "why? Did Jake say or do something?"

She shook her head, "No, he's great…just this whole Troy thing is bothering me." Gabriella bought something to drink and laid on her float to tan in the water.

Sharpay had her hat and sunglasses on. "Well, you shouldn't let it bother you, its spring break and you should enjoy it while it last girl!" Sharpay swam around with Zeke next to her.

Gabriella got off her the float and sighed, "I'm gonna go back to the hotel and shower…I'll see you guys later." She said, then got out of the pool and headed back up to the hotel. On her way up, she saw Troy in the distance. She walked closer to him; she wanted to talk to him. "Troy." She began to say.

Troy looked up and saw Gabriella. He took a deep breath and walked to her. "Hey." He simply said to her.

"Look about earlier…" She was beginning to say something but he interrupted her.

"Don't worry about it." Troy said to her, "it's cool." He then walked past her without giving her an explanation or anything more than that. Troy let out a deep breath before walking out of the hotel.

Gabriella was shocked that he wouldn't want to talk about this. But she couldn't blame him since she had a feeling he was still ticked off about this whole thing. She honestly was confused because she didn't know who or what she wanted. She didn't know if she was going to get hurt by Troy…lately it's been happening and with Jake…she didn't know what to expect. She had a long day ahead of her. The others are coming down to enjoy spring break with them and Gabriella was not excited to see Audrey or Nate. She got up to the room and got into the showers and took a quick shower. By the time she got out, she had two text messages on her phone. She checked the first one and it was from Sharpay.

_Hey where are you?_

Gabriella clicked reply:

_I just got out of the shower; I'll be down in fifteen minutes._

She clicked send and read the other one.

_Hey Gabs we're all going to the beach party tonight, are you down? All of us and the new people are going._

_-Chad_

Gabriella clicked reply:

_Sorry, busy._

She clicked send and finished getting dressed and ready. Gabriella had to make up her mind. Either go on a date with Jake and choose him or go after Troy and choose him. Only her mind and heart were telling her different things.

By the time Gabriella got downstairs, a lot of the East High people arrived. Gabriella greeted some of the cheer girls she got along with and hugged them. The other cheerleading girls like Audrey she simply ignored them. She ignored Nate as much as she could too. Troy and the rest of the gang were also down here meeting with everyone else.

"TROYYYYYY!!!" Gabriella heard Audrey's annoying voice calling for Troy's name.

Troy closed his eyes. Aw man, no. He told himself then around giving her a fake smile. "Hey Audrey." Troy said, waving slightly but was pulled into a hug by her.

"I am soooo excited to spend some spring break time with you!!" Audrey said with her arm still slung around his neck.

Gabriella looked from a distance and she felt a pang of jealousy in her body. She shook her head and held her cell phone near her in case Jake called or something.

Chad yelled and got everyone's attention, "Tonight there is a beach party, make sure you attend if you want to be special." Then everyone cheered and went their separate ways.

--

An hour or so later, everyone was getting ready to do their own things. Gabriella had to get ready to have dinner with Jake. Sharpay was getting ready for the beach party and so was Taylor. The boys were getting ready to go to the beach as well. Gabriella still had a choice to make on which to do. This was tough and she's never been in this type of situation before…ever.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the beach party Gabs?" Sharpay asked while putting some blush on her face.

She smiled, "I have a date with Jake, maybe we'll stop by after." Gabriella spoke while she was curling her hair. "Most likely since Jake is like everywhere anyways."

"So you choose Jake, huh?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella sighed, "I didn't choose anyone. I'm going on a date with Jake…" Gabriella spoke to her.

"Well you better choose, you can't always have two you know." Sharpay added.

Taylor added to Sharpay's comment, "someone has to get hurt in the end."

Gabriella nodded, but didn't say anything.

--

The three boys were already heading to the party that was started an hour ago. Everyone was there having fun and having some drinks. They of course split up by the time they got there. Troy was wandering around…finding something to keep his mind off of Gabriella. He stood by the ocean water when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and met eyes with Clarisse. "Oh hey."

Clarisse smiled and put her hands on her waist. "What are the odds that we ALWAYS run into each other every day?" She asked, giggling a bit.

Troy laughed, "It's kind of cool though." He grinned.

Clarisse smiled, "want to take a seat?" She asked then led them over to the rock.

"You must really like to come to these spring break parties huh?" he asked her.

She nodded, "of course, they're the best." She let the wind blow through her curly hair. "You must seem to like them too since you're here." She smiled. "Want something to drink?"

Troy knew all the drinks had alcohol in it. "No thanks, not much of a drinker." That was true…he forced himself last time since he wanted to fit in.

"Oh okay." She said but got a drink for herself anyways. "So you look a bit down today, what's wrong? She asked, comforting him.

He smiled, "it's nothing, and I'll be okay." He said smiling. "Besides, let's focus on right now." He smirked, giving her a small smile.

She smiled and they began flirting back and forth for a little. "It's kind of cold."

Troy looked at the sky then looked back at her, "well I don't have a jacket, but I'll keep you warm if you like." He said, offering.

"I'd like that." She said then felt his arms go around her. She scooted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

Troy looked down at her and smiled then looked forward at everyone else. He saw Audrey glaring at him, but he didn't care about her. He was only focusing on what was right now.

--

Gabriella watched the two girls finish getting ready. She was waiting for her phone to ring or vibrate because she was waiting on Jake. "Well you two have fun, but don't have too much fun without me."

Sharpay laughed, "Oh we'll try not to." She said then they left the room.

Gabriella's phone finally vibrated. She opened her phone and received a text:

_Hey I'm at the restaurant._

She smiled and clicked reply:

_Alright, I'll see you in a bit._

She clicked send and then walked out of the room and down the stairs. So many things were running through her head. She didn't know what to do. The same question was going through her head again. Should she follow her heart or follow her mind? Gabriella stood in front of the cab for the longest time. She could either go and catch a ride to the beach or go and catch a ride to the restaurant. She paced back and forth for a moment. This was it for her. She could either go for Jake or go for Troy. One of them is a guy who treats her with respect and shows her how much of a gentleman he is…and the other guy is someone who she's been through a lot with for a while. The two guys were both great. After a moment of pacing, Gabriella knew what she was going to do.

Gabriella was going to follow her heart.

Hmm. Who do you think is in her heart…who do you think is on her mind? Who do you think she chooses? D Review please! Sorry it took me FOREVER to update this. But I'm trying the best I can to update as soon as possible. Troyella might be happening soon.


	12. Reveal

"Can you take me there please?" Gabriella asked the cab driver and sat in the car. She felt like this could either be the biggest mistake or the best thing she has done yet. Momentarily, she arrived at the place and paid the cab driver. "Thank you." She told him then looked around slightly. She gazed around trying to find him. _Where could he be sitting?_ She asked herself. She walked past a few people who were talking amongst their selves and tried not to run into anyone random. Gabriella then stopped and froze. There. He was sitting there…not alone. Gabriella stood there, watching Troy sitting with a girl with his arms around her. They were cuddling together…and Gabriella was standing here watching. _He sure bounces back fast. _She told herself. Watching this made her heart flutter; it made her mad and sad. After making a decision, she comes and finds out that he moved on. Just when she decided to follow her heart, it becomes broken. She stood there in complete silence and watched the boy she probably fell in love with, over another girl.

Just then her phone vibrated. She opened the text massage and read:

_Hey where are you…I hope you're not standing me up for someone else __, just kidding. But where are you?_

She clicked reply:

_Sorry I'm a little late, I'm coming. Don't worry…there's no one else besides you._

_Xoxo-Gabs_

Gabriella read that over before sending it. She shook her head at him and walked back to the cab and went to the restaurant. Gabriella always thought that following your own heart is the best thing you can do, but what had happened earlier just proved to her that it's not always true. Well at least not to her; it sucked for her.

Her cab arrived at the restaurant and she paid the driver. "Thank you." She said to him then continued into the restaurant. She looked around for a moment, looking for Jake.

Jake saw her and waved her over and he had a huge grin on his face. "Gabriella!"

She smiled at him. "Hey Jake." She said and then sat down across from him when he pulled out the seat for her. "Thanks." She said to him. Gabriella glanced around the restaurant. It was a fancy restaurant that Jake had chosen out for them. She kind of felt awkward that he chose a really nice one instead of a regular one. She would've been happy with a simple restaurant. She took off her overcoat and set it on the back of the chair and opened the menu. "This is a really nice place." She said to him.

Jake looked over at her and shrugged, "I guess, I hope you would like it." He said as he opened his own menu.

"I would've been fine with a simple restaurant." Gabriella told him, smiling. The waitress came over and took their orders and handed them their drink. "Sorry I was late." Gabriella picked up her cup.

He scooted his seat forward, "its fine…all that matters is that you showed up."

Gabriella nodded.

--

"So Troy, are you going to tell me what's bothering you because you don't seem fine at all." Clarisse told Troy. "You can trust me." Her eyes sparkled.

Troy looked down at her and sighed, "It's nothing."

"Don't tell me it's nothing, I can tell when you're lying." Clarisse grabbed a hold of his chin and made him face her.

Troy sighed, looking at her. "It's about this girl…"

"Oh, really?" Clarisse's face lit up.

Troy nodded.

"Well what about her?" Clarisse asked, thinking it was her.

Troy looked at her then looked out to all the people, "I got into this fight with her…and I told her she should be with me and that I love her." Troy looked back at her.

Clarisse's face dropped, but she didn't show any emotion. "Oh…who is this girl?"

"She's my best friend. I made a mistake and fucked up…now she's with some other guy." Troy looked down to the sand and watched it.

Clarisse moved away from Troy a little and fully faced Troy, "and what…you're giving up?"

He shrugged, "What else am I suppose to do?"

"Uh, hello? You shouldn't give up on her, Troy." Clarisse began, "if you honestly love her then you'd fight for her." She watched Troy's reactions. "Don't let another guy let you take her away."

Troy was fully listening to her now.

"Go after her and be real, make her listen to you."

"She's at a restaurant I'm not familiar with." Troy sighed.

Clarisse laughed, "Well tell me his description and I can help you…maybe."

"He's a rich guy that likes to spend money and he's an athlete…one of the Bryce's'." Troy tried to think but she had cut him off already.

She thought for a moment, "Gotcha, I think I know where he is." She took him to the cab and drove to the restaurant that Gabriella and Troy were at. "Now look, just make her realize who she really wants."

Troy was nervous but he nodded, "okay." He said to her. They arrived at the restaurant and Troy paid the cab driver. "Well, I'm guessing you're going back to the party?" He asked her.

She nodded, "Yeah. So come back if it doesn't go great…you'll do great Troy." She smiled.

Troy smiled back at her and left the car. "Thanks." He said to her.

Clarisse rolled down the window. "Troy?" She called out and he turned around. "She'll be stupid not to pick you." She rolled up her window and drove off.

Troy knew he was supposed to be dressed up so he was going to be an outcast in this restaurant. He walked in and told the guy behind the podium that he was here to meet a friend.

"I'm sorry. You need to be on the reservation list." The guy said with a heavy accent.

"But please! I'm just here to talk to a friend real quick." Troy exclaimed.

The guy was mad now, "Sorry you need to be on the list." He said.

Troy rubbed his forehead and sighed. He scanned around the room and saw Jake and Gabriella. His head lifted a little and he pointed his finger at them. "There! There they are!" He told the man.

"What is your name sir?"

"Troy Bolton." Troy told him.

"One moment." The man finally gave up and went over to Jake, "Mr. Bryce there is a certain Troy here to see you."

Gabriella's face went blank when she heard his name. She lifted her head and looked over at the front of the room and saw Troy standing there, looking back at her.

"Thank you." Jake said while he looked at Gabriella. "I'm sorry about the interruption; I'll go tell him to come see me later." He took the napkin off his lap and stood up, walking over to Troy. "Hey man, I'm kind of on a date here."

"I'm not here to see you." Troy spoke and walked past him and towards Gabriella. "Gabriella, can I talk to you?"

Gabriella didn't say anything at first, "What Troy…what else do you need to say to me?" She asked him. She was really confused now. She could see Jake walking back to the seat with him.

"You can't be with him…" Troy told her, "You don't belong with him, he's a cool kid, but you belong with me." Troy told her, he reached out for her hand but she moved it.

"Stop making a scene, please…we can talk about this when I come back to the hotel…just not now. I'm on a date." Gabriella said in a hushed voice.

Troy shook his head, "No, I won't go until you tell me how you really feel about it and what you really think of Jake and why you're on this date with him."

Jake stood behind Troy and placed his hand on his shoulder. "You need to leave bro."

Troy didn't know what he was doing, this wasn't him but he turned around and shoved Jake really hard into the waiter guy. "Don't touch me and I'm not your bro."

"TROY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Gabriella stood up and ran over to Jake.

Troy watched Gabriella and Jake, and then looked over at the waiter, giving him an apology then heard the owner guy come out.

"You need to leave now or I'll call the cops."

Troy nodded, "I'm leaving." He said then looked at Gabriella before he left. "Gabriella…" He began to say.

"Stop, just leave." She told him and helped Jake up and takes off the food off him.

He stood there, waiting for her to talk to him but she told him to leave. He didn't need more; he turned and left the restaurant.

Gabriella watched him leave, her head shaking a bit. What was she going to do with him…she didn't know. "Jake are you okay?"

Jake nodded and sat back down on his seat. "Yeah I'm alright." He told her.

She sat back in her seat; she didn't feel like being on this date anymore.

"I have something for you." He pulled out a rectangular box and handed it to her and smiled. "This is something for making my break fun."

Gabriella looked at the box and opened it. She saw a necklace and gasped. "Wow…"She told him, "This is beautiful…but I can't accept it." She handed it back to him. She finally figured he was trying to buy his way into her heart, and she really didn't like that at all.

"But it's a gift and I won't take no for an answer."

She shook her head, "I really can't." She told him, "Can you take me home please?" She asked him.

"What? Are you okay?" He asked her a bit concerned.

She nodded, "I'm fine, just tired." She told him. She stood up and grabbed her stuff and walked out towards the cab. Jake followed behind her and called a cab to pick them up. The ride home was pretty quiet, though Jake was trying to keep a conversation but Gabriella had other things on her mind right now. Once they reached the hotel Gabriella thanked Jake for the dinner.

"Thank you for the pleasant night." She told him and opened the door.

He grabbed her back and smiled, "It was fun, well most of it." He said, smiling softly. He tried to lean forward to kiss her but she turned her head and he kissed her on the cheek. He had a puzzled look on his face as Gabriella walked out of the car.

Gabriella waved to him and walked into the hotel hearing the cab stroll away into the night. She walked to the front, looking for the hotel key when she heard a voice that made her jump.

"He tried to kiss you huh."

Her hand was on her heart as she turned to see who was talking to her. "Oh god, you scared the hell out of me, what the hell Troy."

Troy stood up and walked over towards the door. "You let him kiss you?"

Gabriella scoffed, "What is it to you? And no he didn't I turned my head."

He blinked and sighed, "Will you let me talk to you now?"

"I don't see why not." She said, folding her arms over her chest.

"How do you really feel about Jake? Be honest." He told her.

She shrugged, "He's nice…but eventually I figured he was trying to buy my love." She told him, "He belongs with someone besides me."

"And how do you feel about me?" He asked her, "Please be honest."

Gabriella hesitated to say anything at first but then sighed deeply. "I don't know…us…me and you…we're just a pair that doesn't know what we want, we've been friends for so long that we're just confusing each other. All of this happened so fast, me and you talking so much again…and then all this love drama."

"That doesn't answer my question." Troy said again.

She sighed, and ran her hand through her hair. "Troy, I don't know. It's like a rollercoaster it has its ups and downs. I can't say I love you and I can't say I don't…it's a feeling that I've never realized."

"Gabriella, I love you. I need you to know that."

Gabriella face looked back up at him and she was really shocked but felt good to hear that.

"We've been friends for so long that all this time it was meant to be that we belong together." Troy told her. "I don't need to prove to you how much I love you because honestly I do."

Gabriella opened her mouth to say something then closed it.

"I just want to let you know that." He said then walked back into the hotel and up the elevators.

Gabriella stood there, unsure what to do or say. She wished she had her two friends to help her realize what she's missing or what she is doing that is good. But now, she realizes that this is the decision that she has to make on her own. This is her love life, not theirs. She walked up to his hotel and knocked on his door.

"Whoever it is, go away…I'm busy." Troy said on the other side of the door.

Gabriella bit her lip, "It's me…" She said then laid her head against the door, waiting for him to open it or say something.

There was a big silence until Troy spoke up. "What do you want Gabriella…to tell me that you don't love me too and I need to move on? Well if you are, you're wasting your time."

"Troy shut up." She began to say.

"Don't tell me to shut-"She disrupted him off.

"I love you."

She didn't hear anything for a while then heard footsteps and the unlocking of the door. He opened it and they came face to face.

"I love you, and I'm sorry I didn't realize and say it sooner." She told him she moved forward and kissed him on the lips.

Troy was shocked but he kissed her back on the lips, wrapping his arms around him. After minutes of kissing, Gabriella moved back into Troy's room and closed the door behind them.

This was their night, their next to not forget. In the end for them, what really mattered most was each other.

**Wow, it's been a WHILE since I've updated. Enjoy my last chapter for this story…It's the least I could do. Hope you enjoyed this story.**


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